YugoslaviA from a histORical perspective (original) (raw)

Balkan Conflict, the Disintegration of Yugoslavia and the ICTY

Yugoslavia as South Slavic state, initially formed in 1918, under the name of Kingdom of three Slavic peoples: Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then as communist country, established after the World War II, has played an important role in regional and international politics. The new federation consisted of six republics and two autonomous provinces, which were constitutive elements of federation having the right of veto. Yugoslav state played an important role on the international stage, especially through Non-Aligned Movement which was founded with India and Egypt. Its leader, Josip Broz Tito, has suppressed nationalism in all the republics and thus managed to keep the Yugoslav nations united around the communist idea, by transforming Yugoslavia into a very strong economic and military country. But, after his death in 1980, nationalisms surfaced and began disintegrating the federation. In this regard, the Serbian nationalism has been particularly distinguished, which has by the use of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) started wars against other peoples of the Yugoslav federation, who sought secession and independence of their republics. Initially the war started against Slovenia, then Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and more recently against Kosovo Albanians. After many bloody wars that left hundreds of thousands of casualties and millions of refugees, two international conferences had to be held, one in Dayton for Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Rambouillet for Kosovo, including 78-day intervention of NATO aviation aimed to put an end to the never ending conflicts. The resolution of the UN Security Council has also established the Tribunal of Hague which would investigate and adjudicate the crimes committed in Yugoslavia. This Tribunal has imposed 1000 years in prison, especially for Serb military and political leaders. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia resulted in formation of seven new states which are in the path of Euro-Atlantic integration as Slovenia and Croatia which are already permanent members of these organizations.

From Bosnia to the Kosovo Humanitarian Internvetion case

This paper emphasizes the historical, chronological line of events of the dissolution of the Yugoslavian federation. The bloody conflict caused loss of thousands of humans lives and infringement of the International Law sovereignty principles. The massacres that took place in Bosnia and the Humanitarian Intervention in Kosovo are interconnected. This study gathered different sources that aim the describing of the grounds of the conflicts in details.

Thirty Years after the Break-up of Yugoslavia

Historical Materialism

The contribution sheds a critical light on the thirty years since the break-up of socialist Yugoslavia. It presents three hypotheses for a critical reorientation of the 1989–91 sequence. Firstly, rather than seeing 1989 as the start of the longue durée of a democratic process, for Yugoslavia this trajectory was ‘realised’ as political chaos and ethnic wars in 1991. Secondly, criticising the chronological view of ‘post-socialism’, it posits post-socialism as having already emerged after 1965, marked by market reforms that ‘withered away’ socialism. Thirdly, and specific to the 1990s, in order to facilitate the transition to capitalism, a ‘primitive accumulation’ of memory and a high degree of violence unfolded, which actually dis-accumulated the socialist infrastructure and socialised means of (re)production. The post-Yugoslav transition proved a genuine ‘contribution’ to ‘making our country great again’: ethnically cleansed nation-states on the horizon of European peripheral capital...

The Disintegration of Yugoslavia (1989-2001)

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014

The fragile state so-called "Yugoslavia" had already begun to decay from within itself during the past decade because of many factors, but mostly from ethnic conflicts. Among other nations who were not satisfied with its constitutional order and the Serbian chauvinist aggression were Slovenes, Croats and Albanians. Unlike the others, Albanians were the only ones who dared to challenge the very strong political and military system of the federation that was built with decades. The reasons were numerous. Already for many years Serbian and Yugoslav governments under the umbrella of Milosevic were perpetrators of continued violence over the entire Albanian population in Yugoslavia. The Albanian question in Yugoslavia despite Milosevic's government attempts to remain as an internal issue of Yugoslavia (or Serbia and Macedonia), it was still found very soon in the round tables of the major world powers who would later be the most powerful advocates of Albanians in their pathway for their freedom and independence.