Balkanize
to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states.
(often lowercase) to divide (groups, areas, etc.) into contending and usually ineffectual factions:
a movement to balkanize minority voters.
verb
(transitive) to divide (a territory) into small warring states
to divide (a group or organization) into small factions
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.
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pertaining to the Balkan States or their inhabitants. pertaining to the Balkan Peninsula. pertaining to the Balkan Mountains. the Balkans. Balkan States. Contemporary Examples Another is rooted in atrocities committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 90s. Dylan’s Candor Gets Misconstrued as Hate Speech in France Ian Bell December 6, 2013 He conceived the federal […]
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