MODERN IMPERIALISM IN THE BALKANS 75 B alkanistica 23 (2010) Entangled Trajectories: The Interweaving Interests of the Local and the Evolution of Modern Imperialism in the Balkans Isa Blumi Georgia State University Introduction Starting in the first decade of the 19th century, the rising socio-economic and political influence of modern imperialism transformed the Balkans. In the historiography, the contours of what scholars characterize as the “Eastern Question” speak to the increasing influence competing empires would have on the day-to-day lives of the inhabitants of the Balkans. Over time, the policies designed to increase direct influence over the region instigated reactions and counter- reactions from all the regional powers. Such a “scramble” over the proverbial “sick man of the Orient’s” territories resulted in the concentration of human, material and financial resources in the region that had a complex effect on the Balkans. The usual approach to studying this era continues to suggest that the process of raising and then resolving the “Eastern Question” ultimately shaped the developments of the Balkans, including the creation of new opportunities for still ill-formed “national” constituencies, a process that ultimately resulted in a n era of political association and the emergence of the nation state. Interestingly, while scholars periodically study the events of the 19th century in the Balkans within the confines of the Eastern Question, as it pertains to comparative imperialism, rarely do the studies adopt a comparative approach that analyzes the region from within the Ottoman context. Moreover, the treatment of imperial competition over the Balkans neglects the local perspective, an important angle to appreciating why rival enterprises adopted certain strategies and not others over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The following study will take a different approach to understanding the region as it develops within the context of a decidedly Eurocentric theme, “the Eastern Question.” First, this article studies the Ottoman Balkans within the context of a regional struggle between neighboring and often competing state enterprises — Italian, Austro-Hungarian, British,