Bosnia-Herzegovina is an example of what can go wrong when the international community fails in nation building, says a Ball State University political science professor.

In her upcoming book "Bosnia-Herzegovina: A Polity on the Brink," Francine Friedman examines how various governments miscalculated the events in the early 1990s that led to the dismantling of Yugoslavia and the subsequent fighting in the Balkan nation.

"In the early 1990s the international community was celebrating the downfall of communism and the end of the Soviet Union," Friedman said. "We thought we could concentrate on our own economies, education and ecology and not worry about Cold War conflict.

"It turns out that instead of countries looking with one vision toward the future, we saw an increase in tribalism," she said. "Yugoslavia is a sign post of what went wrong. When its government fell apart, various factions wanted freedom and self-determination. That eventually led to a bloody war between Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Muslims."

Friedman said growing nationalism led the political leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina, formerly one of the six republics within Yugoslavia, to seek sovereignty in 1991 and independence the following year.

Friedman contends many of the former communist party leaders used nationalism to spark a three-year ethnic war between the Croats, Serbs and Muslims.

"All the things that were said about the various ethnic and religious groups being at odds for centuries are nonsense," Friedman said. "The communists wanted to hold onto their power base. They turned one group against another."

The Clinton administration brought the warring factions together in 1995 to negotiate the Dayton Peace Accords, ending the strife and creating a new government for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

However, nearly a decade later, troops under the direction of NATO are still in the country to enforce the peace.

Friedman has spent several summers in the Balkans doing research on the book. Years of ethnic fighting has left the once beautiful country scarred.

"It was a horrible war," she said. "We saw things like concentration camps and ethnic cleansing that weren't supposed to happen anymore. They are still discovering mass graves while former government officials and military leaders are on trial for war crimes."

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Friedman at fsfriedman@hotmail.com or (765) 285-8788.