Interest throughout the decade-long succession of crises which have wracked the Balkan Peninsula in the wake of the disintegration of Yugoslavia has been concentrated upon the military, political and humanitarian aspects of these developments. The fact that some important questions of law have been raised in this process, sometimes resulting in significant legal innovation, has been overlooked in public discussion, particularly at the international level. The study of the Yugoslav crises can be extremely informative with respect to our understanding of the law. By bringing together in a single forum contributions from different disciplinary and professional backgrounds the proposed conference will make a real intellectual innovation which it is hoped may ignite further debate.

Contribution are invited in the following areas of discussion: The implications of the Yugoslav wars for the UN Charter, the NATO Charter, and the implications of UN Security Council Resolutions; The International Court's ruling on genocide in Bosnia, in 1993; The "Badinter Commission" report, and legal aspects of the secession process; Economic sanctions and the arms embargo; The lessons of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; The constitutional background to the disintegration of the former Yugoslav state; The constitutions and legal systems of the post-Yugoslav states; Citizenship and individual rights in the law of the regional states; The concept of "minority rights" and its implementation; The politicisation of the judiciary the law as a component of civil society; Legal insecurity and the criminalisation of society; Electoral law and the manipulation of democracy; Legal aspects of the Dayton settlement in Bosnia, and the provisional administration in Kosovo; Denationalisation, restitution and the protection of private property; Legal aspects of normalisation and conflict resolution in the region.

Abstracts should reach the organisers by 24 November 2000:

John B. Allcock, j.b.allcock@bradford.ac.uk
Research Unit in S-E. European Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
Tel: 44-1274 233993
Fax: 44-1274 720494

Dragica Vujadinovic-Milinkovic, dragicav@nomos.ius.bg.ac.yu
Centre for Advanced Legal Studies
Gospodar Jevremova 41
11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Tel/fax: 381 11 638 979