Ethnic conflicts have become the focal point of international relations, but what exactly, cause ethnic conflict? How are ideas about identity, citizenship, and the state constructed in such a way as to make conflict seem inevitable? The Social Construction of Man, the State, and War is the fist book on conflict in the former Yugoslavia to look seriously at the issue of ethnic identity, rather than treating it as a given, unquestionable variable. Though so much has been written on the former Yugoslavia, we have yet to come close to a satisfactory, intelligible explanation for what happened and what continues to happen. Combining detailed analysis with a close reading of historical narratives, documentary evidence, and first-hand interviews conducted in the former Yugoslavia, Wilmer sheds new light on how ethnic identity is constructed, and what that means for the future of peace and sovereignty throughout the world.