THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY: CLIO BEHIND ICTY BARS

Abstract

The task of this article is to examine the academic value and factual reliability of the reports Background, Politics, and Strategy of the Sarajevo Siege, 1991-1995 and Highlights of Deliberations in the Assembly of Republika Srpska Relevant to the Indictment of Ratko MLADIC, 1991- 96, produced by historian Robert J. Donia, for the purposes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The argument advanced in our analysis is that they do not satisfy the basic academic and scientific standards, in spite of their academic structure and ambition. For this reason, the claims and results put forward in these reports must be approached with much caution and little confidence.