yugoslavias implosion

objectives, especially following events in Novi Sad in 1998, an episode
in the anti-bureaucratic revolution that led to the sacking of the provincial
leadership. Mesić was installed in June 1990 as the new collective
head of state by a European Community troika present at the
inaugural session.
The adoption of the new Constitution of the Republic of Serbia
in September 1990 marked the end of the first phase of preparations
to destroy Yugoslavia. This constitution usurped two paramount
federal functions: national defense and foreign relations. It deprived
the autonomous provinces of their constitutional functions and
excluded Serbia from the legal system of the Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia—Yugoslavia’s laws would no longer apply to Serbia.
This constitution was the first secessionist document; Article 135 states
that Serbia would enforce federal legislation only if it is not “contrary
to its interests.” Milošević declared in a March 1991 speech on
Radio Television of Serbia that “Yugoslavia does not exist any more.”
Following the outbreak of war in Bosnia and the occupation of
more than 70 percent of its territory by Serbian forces, as well as the
break-up of the ypa into three armies (see the next chapter), Serbia
passed the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (fry)
in 1992, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, with the object of succeeding
the sfry. The new constitution allowed all who wished to
join the fry, primarily the Republic of Serb Krajina and Republika
Srpska, to do so. Its provisions anticipated the unification of Serbian
lands, which was Milošević’s objective.
In those crucial years, Milošević succeeded through machination
and fraud and by playing on the contradictions and unpreparedness
of his counterparts in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He emerged
victorious from every situation. By making use of rallies bearing
the stamp of “democratic legitimacy,” he cowed his opponents. He
believed that rallies “were a form of political reaction by the broadest
public to the nonfunctioning of society” and that “in Serbia the
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ChApter 1