Balkanize

[bawl-kuh-nahyz] /ˈbɔl kəˌnaɪz/
verb (used with object), Balkanized, Balkanizing.
1.
to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states.
2.
(often lowercase) to divide (groups, areas, etc.) into contending and usually ineffectual factions:
a movement to balkanize minority voters.
Also, especially British, Balkanise.
Origin
1915-20; Balkan + -ize
Related forms
Balkanization, noun
Balkanism, noun
British Dictionary definitions for Balkanize

Balkanize

/ˈbɔːlkəˌnaɪz/
verb
1.
(transitive) to divide (a territory) into small warring states
2.
to divide (a group or organization) into small factions
Derived Forms
Balkanization, Balkanisation, noun
Balkanized, Balkanised, adjective
Word Origin and History for Balkanize
v.

1920, first used in reference to the Baltic states, on the model of what had happened in the Balkans; said to have been coined by English editor James Louis Garvin (1868-1947), but A.J. Toynbee (1922) credited it to "German Socialists" describing the results of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Either way, the reference is to the political situation in the Balkans c.1878-1913, when the European section of the Ottoman Empire split up into small, warring nations. Balkanized and Balkanization both also are from 1920.