At the end of the Cold War, the Balkan states of South East Europe were in crisis. They had emerged from two decades of hardline communism with their economies in disarray and authoritarian leaders poised to whip up nationalist feelings so as to cling on to power. The break up of Yugoslavia followed in 1991along with prolonged instability in Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The Balkans After The Cold War analyses these turbulent events, which led to violence on a scale not seen in Europe for nearly fifty years, and offers a detailed critique of Western policy towards the region.