Balkanize
pronunciation
How to pronounce Balkanize in British English:
UK [ˈbɔ:lkənaɪz]
How to pronounce Balkanize in American English:
US [ˈbɔlkəˌnaɪz]
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- Verb:
- divide a territory into small, hostile states
Word Origin
- Balkanize (v.)
- 1920, first used in reference to the Baltic states, on the model of what had happened in the Balkans; said to have been coined by English editor James Louis Garvin (1868-1947), but A.J. Toynbee (1922) credited it to "German Socialists" describing the results of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Either way, the reference is to the political situation in the Balkans c. 1878-1913, when the European section of the Ottoman Empire split up into small, warring nations. Balkanized and Balkanization both also are from 1920.
Example
- 1. The long-standing project to balkanize sudan and its links to the arab world .
- 2. The events in sudan and egypt are linked to one another and are part of the project to balkanize the arab world and the middle east .