Who is Afraid of Balkanization? The Transnational Life of a Metaphor in Competing Globalization Projects

Abstract This article takes the contemporary revival of the “Balkanization” metaphor as a starting point from which to examine its transnational historical trajectory. The existing literature has interpreted “Balkanization” either as a variation of Orientalism or as a symptom of de-globalization. Drawing on the theory of multiple globalization projects, this article traces the circulation of the term across different political and geographical contexts, asking what kinds of crises it tends to encapsulate in the course of its travels. Methodologically, the study relies on the transnational travels of concepts and critical metaphor analysis. The article shows that the term has come to embody both the promises and perils of the national globalization project – its aspirations to autonomy and destruction of the existing imperial order, as well as its inner potential toward imperialism and its own vulnerability to further fragmentation. “Balkanization,” then, mirrors the tensions between different globalizations embodying experiments with territory, sovereignty, citizenship and the politics of belonging. Far from being an anomaly standing for fragmentation or the “Orientalist gaze,” “Balkanization” actually renders visible the global history of multiple globalizations and the various perspectives of its protagonists.