by John J. Mearsheimer and Robert A. Pape

About the authors: John J. Mearsheimer is a political science professor at the University of Chicago. Robert A. Pape teaches at Air University’s School of Advanced Airpower Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

Three ideas for peace in Bosnia are now conceivable: the fast-fading Vance- Owen plan [to divide Bosnia into ten separate ethnic provinces]; the European proposal to create U.N.-protected “safe havens” for the Muslims; and the much less discussed concept of partitioning Bosnia into three independent states. There’s only one constant: the Western powers want peace in the Balkans and don’t want to spend much blood and treasure to achieve it. The debate is therefore governed by a judgment of what will work and how...