Containing Balkan Nationalism by Denis Vovchenko

Containing Balkan Nationalism by Denis Vovchenko

In 1870, the Orthodox Bulgarian Exarchate was established by the Sultan's decree without the consent of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The inability to reach a compromise led to a schism within Orthodoxy and divided Ottoman Christian communities into traditionalists versus nationalists, Greeks versus Slavs and Arabs. Those conflicts were exacerbated by the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, refugee movements, and the increasingly deadly rivalry of irredentist Balkan states. Containing Balkan Nationalism focuses on the implications of the Bulgarian national movement that developed in the context of Ottoman modernization and of European imperialism in the Near East. The movement aimed to achieve the status of an independent church, separating ethnic Bulgarians from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Independent church status meant cultural and legal autonomy in the Islamic structure of the Ottoman Empire. Denis Vovchenko highlights the efforts put forth by ecclesiastics, publicists, and diplomats in Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Greece, and Bulgaria in developing and implementing various plans to reconcile ethnic differences within existing religious and dynastic frameworks. The arrangements were often inspired by modern visions of a political and cultural union of Orthodox Slavs and Greeks. Whether put into effect or simply discussed, they demonstrate the strength and flexibility of supranational identities and institutions on the eve of the First World War. The book should encourage contemporary analysts and policymakers to explore the potential of such traditional loyalties to defuse ethnic tensions today and to serve as organic alternatives to generic mechanical models of power-sharing and federation.

In Containing Balkan Nationalism, Denis Vovchenko makes an important contribution to the understanding and explication of the circumstances and consequences of the Bulgarian quest to create an autonomous Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the late nineteenth century* Gregory Bruess, Slavic Review *
The book is a wonderful corrective to current historiographical understandings of Russia's role in the Balkans in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. Vovchenko uses an astonishing array of Russian Imperial, Ottoman, Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian archives...Overall, the book is a useful addition to anyone putting together a reading list on nineteenth-century Balkan nationalism, or as Vovchenko himself suggests, those interested in supranational identity building, such as those forging (salvaging) a common European identity. * Dan Gashler, H-Net *

Denis Vovchenko is Associate Professor of History at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780190276676
ISBN 10	0190276673
Title	Containing Balkan Nationalism
Author	Denis Vovchenko
Series	Religion And Global Politics
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2016-09-08
Number of pages	358
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable