Balkan peninsula: national identification as a dominant separatism factor

Balkan separatism has deep historical roots, and its modern size and forms are the product of numerous local, regional and global events. Today, the Balkan Peninsula has become synonymous with extreme fragmentation. It is the countries located in this territory that are characterized by a contradictory combination of modernity with the past, which leads to the emergence of socio-economic and political multiplicity, exacerbation and overlapping of heterogeneous conflicts. As a result, in the end there are processes of redistribution of borders and the formation of new independent states. In particular, this concerns the problem of determining the status of Kosovo and the settlement of interethnic and regional confrontations. In view of these circumstances, the paper discusses the features of the people’s ethnic identity formation on the Balkan Peninsula and its influence in shaping the destructive processes. The main factors of national identity that contribute to the development of separatist tendencies are also identified. Special attention is paid to the content of the Westphalia system, which today is no longer an effective tool for ensuring the sovereignty of states. The contradiction of Westphalia principles, which formed the basis of wars in the former Yugoslav republics, is also indicated. It was found that, in fact, the separatist movements and the breakup of Yugoslavia were due to objective problems in the development of common statehood, which consisted in the fact that the idea of the Yugoslav national state did not take place in the country, because the political and cultural identity of the country's population was not ensured. Particular emphasis is placed on economic factors that stimulate the emergence of conflicts between ethnic groups and provoked separatist movements.