Anthems are symbolic means through which nations present themselves to the world. Accordingly, creating seven new nation states out of the bones of Yugoslavia required new anthems. Why did these new states opt for century-old national songs or, failing this, for the anthems without words? What are the images and symbols that each of these states chose as their 'national signatures' and how were these chosen? This book explores a variety of images of nationhood (or the absence of them) in the lyrics of the official anthems and of competing national songs and traces their historical trajectory from the time of their conception to their legal entrenchment. This is the first full-length study into the symbolic representations of nationhood in the recently created nation states of the Balkans."

Aleksandar Pavkovi? is Associate Professor in Politics at Macquarie University, Sydney. He is the author of Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession (with Peter Radan, 2007), The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia:Nationalism and War in the Balkans (2000). Christopher (Kit) Kelen is an Australian poet, scholar and visual artist, and Professor of English at theUniversity of Macau, where he has taught Creative Writing and Literature. Among his many poetry books, translated in several languages, is Scavenger's Season (2014).