Balkanization

Balkanization is the fragmentation of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. It is normally caused by differences of ethnicity, culture, as well as religion and some other factors such(a) as past grievances. The term is pejorative; when sponsored or encouraged by a sovereign third party, it has been used as an accusation against such(a) third party nations. Controversially, the term is often used by voices for the status quo to underscore the dangers of acrimonious or runaway secessionism.

In the Levant

During the 1980s, the Lebanese academic and writer Georges Corm used the term balkanization to describe attempts by supporters of Israel to earn buffer states based on ethnic backgrounds in the Levant in formation to protect Israeli sovereignty. In 2013 the French journalist Bernard Guetta writing in the Libération newspaper applied the term to: