Former Yugoslavia On the World Wide Web

/ Since the violent collapse of former Yugoslavia, the `new' nation-states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia have attempted to position themselves on the global map while seeking to create a distinctive `brand' (national) identity. Drawing on a textual analysis of their official governmental websites, this article explores how these former Yugoslav states use the Internet to create and represent self-images for the world. The governmental websites analysed frame the nation as a `brand' in that they employ advertising mechanisms to promote and sell their nations. Websites represent national territories, histories, products and citizens as commodities that can be sold to foreign investors and tourists. In this way, the former Yugoslav countries are transformed into brand-states that serve the function of relegating their citizens to the role of either exotic Others ready to be consumed by rich western tourists, or goods for foreign investment.