In the early 1990s, the collapse of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed triggered intense debates in European politics and public opinion. Attempts to redraw political borders by force, as well as the scale of the violence, challenged fundamental norms of international politics. The project analyzes European - especially British and German - reactions to developments in the (post-)Yugoslav space, examining how public and non-public interpretive struggles influenced policy-making processes. Individual case studies focus on the disputes over the recognition of Slovenia and Croatia, the establishment of the "International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," and the reactions to the refugee movements resulting from the Yugoslav wars. In each case, the question is asked which concepts of peace and ideas about the future of Europe were negotiated in interpretive struggles and formed the basis of political decisions. The project is part of the research network "Conflicts. Meanings. Transitions", which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and aims to sustainably network researchers in peace and conflict studies in Bavaria.