Yugoslavia was created in 1917 by Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in the World War I context. It was later joined in 1929 by Voivodina, Montenegro and Bosnia. It has experienced wars and changes in political regimes, being first a monarchy and turning to communism after the Second World War under the influence of Tito. In fact, it became the Federation of Yugoslavia in 1945, a multinational country whose population has had different experiences throughout its history. In 1989, Yugoslavia was a federal state, composed of six republics, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia, and of two autonomous provinces, Voivodina and Kosovo. However, ten years later, only two republics remained within the Federation, which was still in the process of further disintegration, since Montenegro was seeking greater autonomy and Serbia was losing control over Kosovo. The disintegration was the result of multiple and extremely violent conflicts between the different ethnic groups which composed the country. How can a country, even multinational, peacefully function for more than forty years and then suddenly completely disintegrate in extreme violence? What elements can help us understand the outburst of a civil war? Theories about the dismemberment of Yugoslavia are numerous, sometimes competing. Scholars often refer to economic, political, international, cultural, nationalist or religious causes. But as Jovic highlights it, we need to take into account a cluster of factors to understand this process, and try to avoid relying on unicausal theories.
[...] This is what the elite who wanted to stay in power understood. As Jovic puts it, ‘although neither Milan Kucan nor Slobodan Milosevic were originally ethnic nationalists, their political pragmatism and the context in which they acted led them to act like ‘someone who has jumped on to the tiger of nationalism and is finding it difficult to get off again without the tiger eating him'[12]. In fact, Milosevic was like a ‘catalyst'. The growing tension in Kosovo, which started in 1981 was easy to exploit. [...]
[...] This made the system unable to function. What was left were the republics, with their own cultural space and their own interests. The decision-making process became paralysed. As every decision could be subject to a veto, reforms were difficult to carry out. The competing interests of the republics prevailed over the Yugoslav ones: LCY had become merely the institutional arena in which the real powers in the system met and discussed their common concerns.'[7] It became more difficult to reach an agreement, and when decisions were finally agreed on, they were either badly or not implemented at all by the republics. [...]
[...] Serbian predominance has often been a source of instability, as it created fear of domination among ethnic groups. During World War II, Serbs and Croats, being occupied by different powers, have resorted to extreme violence against one another. While the fascist Croat Ustache regime has led a real extermination campaign particularly against the Serbs, the Serb nationalist Chetniks have taken their revenge against Croats. Those conflicts have left their marks on the population's minds. Even if those ethnic divisions have been quieted down under Tito's leadership, they remained in collective memories. [...]
[...] Conclusion The Yugoslav state was created and disintegrated in less than a century. After the end of the strong Communist rule, the country was confronted with a deep economic, political and ideological crisis, which offered an occasion for a dividing discourse to emerge. This discourse echoed with the long-term history of the country, was reinforced by propaganda, and led to the disintegration of the country. While the roots of the Yugoslav collapse can mostly be identified within the country, the fact that the international community remained relatively inactive during the first stages of the disintegration did not help prevent it. [...]
[...] Ramet, Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to Ethnic war (Westwiew Press, 1996), p Id. P. [...]
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