Economic, Ancient Ethnic Hatred, Nationalism

Economic

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The widening gap between the developed and under developed regions of Yugoslavia increased tensions and made the existence of a formal state impossible Developed states such as Slovenia and Croatia demanded independence to further their economic development o Opposed economic autonomy for the state o Kosovos output fell during the post-war years Results in constitutional conflict

However, the intensity of the conflict does not measure with the nature of economic issues, the economy wasnt that bad. Yugoslavia collapsed when the economic reforms were just starting to take effect Economic issues did not take precedence at negotiations about the future of the country o Declined an offer of a loan for political compromise Economically and politically Yugoslavia was the most advanced of all the East European states.

Ancient Ethnic Hatred More modern argument, not strictly intellectual. Argues that leaders suppressed tensions in the Communist period which boiled over in the post-socialist era. However, Yugoslav conflict did not begin as an ethnic conflict Once Yugoslavia started to disintegrate it was just easier to

revert to traditional ethnic stereotypes Surveys suggest that popular protest were concerned about injustice and bureaucratisation of the political elite This responsibility was eventually placed on the others o i.e. other nationalities o As such, Serbs blamed Croats and Slovenes for the breakup of their country o Slovenes blamed Serbians for their expansionist ideals

By redirecting the protests towards the others the political elites survived at the cost of the undermining of Yugoslavia

Nationalism The primacy over the nation over any other political interest does not always develop into ethnic hatreds However, Nationalism was stronger than Liberalism at the fall of Communism and as such was the main alternative In the form it had in the 1980s, nationalism was created by the intellectual elites and then accepted into the political and cultural arena The nationalism was partly to blame on the 1974 constitution, portrayed self management as an alternative to the state. Anti-statist rhetoric had large impact on the deconstruction of the Yugoslav state and on Yugoslav High Culture o Prevented a fast and efficient response to questions on the economy and politics By treating Yugoslav nations as sovereign states the ideological narratve of Kardelj actively encouraged the development of state nationalism as well as weakening Yugoslav nationalism By excluding anyone nationalist in the public sphere Kardelj both weakened it publically and strengthened it massively in the underground it became the accepted alternative. o By leaving the Soviet Union, the state had no one else to blame for its issues but itself The political elite, due to democratisation did not use force against protests of nationalism, adopting it through political pragmatism The manner in which to achieve nationalism separated the states as well o Serbians wanted majority rule o Slovenians favoured democratisation within the republics, but not at a federal level.

However, nationalism fails to explain why at the same time of growing ethnic tensions there was also a growing sense of Yugoslavism.

Grew as a response to the growing trend of fragmentation in

1970s and 80s o Significant growth in declared Yugoslavs between 1971 and 1981 The potential join of the European Economic Committee would mean 2 nationalisms (Yugoslav and European) This endangered the ethnic nationalists o Basically nationalism was anti-urban, anti-European and to an extent motivated by romantic ideas Based on fears that the status of their ethnic groups would be reduced from a constitutive nation to a minority in one nation. The nationalism argument argues that nationalism had always been present Does not take into account individual differences o Denies the importance of the subjective i.e. ambivalence between Communism and Nationalism.

Cultural Differences, International Politics, Role of Personalities, Fall of Empires 12/04/2011 07:00:00
Cultural Differences The diversity of cultures in Yugoslavia (based on ancient divisions within Christianity and against Islam) removed the possibility of a Yugoslav state. Differences such as culture, traditions and LANGUAGE promoted the idea of a desire to live separately. o i.e. Gellner, Anderson and the importance of language. However, this doesnt fully explain how these differences didnt destroy the Yugoslav nation in its 45 years of existence after WWII Can be seen that many of these cultural differences were enhanced by the political and economic crises of the 1980s. as such, one must not purely look at just a concept when trying to understand the breakup of Yugoslavia, because concepts are inclined to be liquid and malleable by political elites. Must neither see nations as fixed entities: defined by linguistic, cultural or traditional separations or as imagined communities by political and intellectual elites. This desire to imagine and/or create a Yugoslav nation led to concepts such as cultural differences being ignored.

International Politics Argues that Yugoslavia was created with significant help or even as a creation by the Great Powers. Yugoslavias position between 2 contrasting ideologies meant that it could not survive the collapse of bipolarity in the international system. o In strategic sense it lost its importance when compared with other areas of the world. Failure of the West to support Yugoslavia economically IMF pressure in the 1980s Former Yugoslav defence secretary Kadijevic argued that the fall of the Soviet Union left Yugoslavia open to Western pressures

However, one should not exaggerate the impact of the international system Glasnost and Perestroika were seen as victories for the Yugoslav Communists of an acknowledgement of their model of socialism They welcomed the dtente between the East and West The West certainly did not want Yugoslavia to collapse, it was to be the first Eastern European state to join the Economic Community It had few enemies in Europe o Granted the international community acted with incompetence concerning Yugoslavia, but the disintegration process was already well developed

Role of Personality (Focus on Tito and Milosevic) Arguments that Tito was the only decision maker, many arguments that despite the decentralisation of the 1974 constitution, Yugoslavia remained united because of Titos role. When he died there was no one to reconnect the broken bonds Others argue that it was Milosevic who disturbed the balance between republics and provinces Broke from the path laid out by Tito which other post-Tito leaders followed However, one must not be trapped into the idea that Yugoslavia existed because of one person only even if its politics has largely been considered in the light of one person only. Just as much products of political trends as they were creators of it o Yugoslav politics has always involved a complexity of intraelite negotiations. Milosevic came to power as a representative of the main trends of Serbian politics, on the key issues he followed a continuity from his predecessors.

Fall of Empires Hobsbawm argues that instead of being a nation-state constructed in the liberal model, Yugoslavia was more akin to the multi-ethnic empire model of Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Tito referred to as the last Habsburg by AJP Taylor because of his similarities with King Alexander in his international ideology o Tito became a supra-national arbiter: not a representative of any group by a vision of the future The change from an empire-like creation to a fragmented semiconfederalist institution was completed by the 1974 Constitution. Milosevic wanted to occupy the space that Tito had, but not only did this space not exist any more, he could not be seen as impartial he was linked to closely with the Serbian ethnic group. o Just as King Alexander had been On the other hand, it is a bit far to link Yugoslavia with any real empires, more of an ideological empire.

Multi-Factored Approach

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Can be seen that the objective is often favoured compared to the subjective. Must be seen that factors such as the economic and political crises, ethnic structures of population etc do ink in to the actions of political actors. In fact, during the actual collapse most of the political actors largely wanted to reform many elements, saving Yugoslavia

Revival of Serbian Nationalism

nation

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Serb nationalism voice the call for the political and cultural unification of a A national idea is a general conception arising in the course of an intellectual debate: attempts to define the identity o Mobilise literature, arts, historiography, political science, philology etc A national ideology articulates the means by which national goals are achieved o Political programmes and image based forms appropriate for the mass media.

Origins of the Serb National Idea Culture of martyrdom for the good of the nation against oppression St Tsar Lazar Milos Obilic Draw on their empire over the Greeks, Bulgarians and Macedonians as the pinnacle of their history (14th Century) Tsar Dusan The Stokavian dialect, now identified as the Serbo-Croat dialect was originally spoken by Orthodox, Muslims and Roman Catholics All identified as Serbian by Karadzic because of their LANGUAGE Revival of the National idea In 1986 Serbian Academy of Arts accused the Yugoslav Communist Party of nationally biased politics concerning the cause of the economic and social crisis engulfing Yugoslavia Tito was a Croat, Kardelj a Slovene Continuation the alleged Comintern policy of reducing Serbian hegemony over the area o Creation of the provinces of Kosovo and Vovodina meant a reduction in Serbian jurisdiction No nation in Yugoslavia had as many writers and scholars banned by the Communists as Serbia had o Paints a picture of an oppressed people

In light of this the Serbian Academy did not actually call for a revival of the ideals of Serbian democratic society but a return to the original idea of Communist federalism of 1943 Serbians regain full national and cultural integrity The draft also demanded a recognition of the pre 1914 democratic state of Serbia and its achievements Post-1990 approaches to Serb national goals can be separated into 4 categories: Federalist Yugoslavism Cosic maintains that the original Communist Federal idea for Yugoslavia provided stability in the region Also provided the basis for later unification Each South Slav state can guarantee its independence if in a Federalist setup Allows for a diverse selection of national interests and of federal units Integralist Yugoslavism Serbs, Croats, Slovenes form one nation Does not allow for the diversity of national interests in one state Ekmecic argues that the composition of the South Slav state of Serb, Croat and Slovene has its origins in Karadzics definition of Serb national identity i.e. Language however, he does argue that in pre-rationalist times, religious affiliation was the key definition of a nation.

o Argues that Serbs, Croats and Slovenes are all by definition therefore, different nations In an effort to create this inclusive South Slav State the Serb population was decimated in WWI (43% killed) After 1918 the national movement turned into a defensive movement to support the status quo in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Argument that Yugoslavism was not realisable in a world defined by the religiously and Bolshevik-inspired national ideologies, but in the present, does have a chance Broad Serbism Rejects the view that Yugoslavism, in any sense, was worth the sacrifice that the Serbs paid for it. Unlike Ekmecic, argues that the national identity of Serbia is defined by their religious commitment. o Oath to Prince Lazar to fight for the nations freedom The Serb 19th century national energy was wasted on the Yugoslav ideal the elites lost their direction Croat hostility to Serbs put them on the defensive ever since the creation of the Yugoslav state in 1918 At its inception, Yugoslavia was populated by different nations on a collision course with each other o Argument that the Serbs in Croatia would have been happy to be Croatian if there hadnt been such a direct antiSerbian policy at the time o An argument here that the Serb national state does not need to incorporate Croatia or the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina Narrow Serbism Argues that Serbia should come first should not be sacrificed for the defence of interests outside Serbia There is a tradition that Serbians will fight for their government regardless of the hardships they will face in the defence of foreign values o Argument that Serbian governments should first serve the interests of Serbia and its population

All these points agree that the Communist federalism split the Serb nation and led to its political and cultural oppression

The cure for this is the creation of a state which would restore political representation and cultural unity to the Serbs

Boundaries of the Serb National State Historically the Serb national goal is the unification of all Serbs. Ideologies of Greater Serbia o Some argue that the size of Greater Serbia is determined by the extent of Serb tombstones and temples historical relics of their empire and presence o Others argue for a plebiscite of self determination Main view is a claim based on ethnicity

Obviously Integralist Yugoslavism and Narrow Serbism are incompatible with any ideology of Greater Serbism Yugoslav state firstly Narrow Serbism does not envisage any change to the current state borders.