Impact and Recovery – An Analysis of the Disintegration of Yugoslavia

This chapter investigates how night-time light images acquired from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System provide spatial and temporal insight into the economic impact of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. First, the chapter provides an overview of the economic development in Yugoslavia using conventional statistics, and second, it presents an analysis of the disintegration of the federation by comparing official statistics with night-time light data. Evaluating the impact of the disintegration of Yugoslavia as a federation and the conflicts arising in the wake of the break up is challenging since reliable data is missing. Therefore, satellite images, as one of the few sources of objective information, are potentially of great importance. We used yearly Operational Linescan System composites covering the period 1992-2013. The analysis is divided into small geographical units (districts) based on the republics in the former Yugoslavia.