The marvels of modern communications made it possible to witness the
hordes of refugees streaming out of the former Yugoslavia, the destruction
of their farms and villages, and the squalor of the camps into which they
were herded virtually as these events took place. The revulsion these scenes
created gave rise to an almost irresistible inclination to view Bosnia and Ko-
sovo as the most recent chapters in the seemingly unending saga of human
inhumanity.

The widespread outrage may be an encouraging sign. If, at the begin-
ning of the twenty-first century, people around the globe find sights of
women, men, and children driven from their homes and reports of mass
rapes and massacres intolerable, then perhaps the world has advanced a bit
beyond its moral sentiments at mid-century. If modern nation-states, with
the support of their citizenry, can be moved to intervene in such atrocious
situations, transcending once sacrosanct claims of sovereignty in the name
of a higher claim of crimes against humanity, then the world may be poised
to enter a new millennium with a heightened sense of humane responsibil-
ity.

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