Reasons of Yugoslavia's dissolution

• Journal: Global Academic Society Journal: Social Science Insight, Vol. 2, No. 7, year 2009, pp. 4-15.
• Author(s): Gintarė Žukaitė
• Category: Social Science Insight II
• Keywords: Yugoslavia, history, dissolution, religion, ethnic, Miloševič

Abstract

Despite all research done on the subject, Yugoslavia's disintegration remains an unsatisfactory comprehended phenomenon. Initially a rich corpus of studies put the blame for Yugoslavia's disintegration on historic animosities peculiar to Balkans. This approach serves more to satisfy Western on-looker's self-image by distinguishing between them and Balkans rather than to explain the real causes of the country's tragedy. The alternative approaches suggest that the main reason of Yugoslavia's dissolution was the strategic decisions of the country's elites, who exploited ethnic sensitivities to consolidate their own power. In the power vacuum left by Tito's death in 1980, Yugoslavia's leaders chose to use ethno nationalism to attain or to consolidate power, ultimately leading to their country's destruction. The aim of this article is to present the main reasons why Yugoslavia has broken down. The article shortly presents the history of Yugoslavia; analyzes country composition in religion, ethnicity, and language perspective; finally it gives overview of major groups of reasons, which caused Yugoslaviahs collapse.