yugoslavias implosion

implies, then it must be accountable to the people (i.e., it must agree
to be publicly criticized and controlled).” Further:
For the first time in the history of socialist self-managing Yugoslavia,
the Army has joined in public debate; pointed out real and invented
difficulties, and real and invented enemies; and criticized the impotence
of the political structures to solve the accumulated problems. We
consider that by this gesture it has overstepped the bounds of its constitutional
competence, because it has no statutory power to decide, by the
argument of its fists, when the Yugoslav social system is in danger. Such
a decision must be left to the organs of civil popular government, above
all to the Assembly of the sfry. 199
The government and civil society of Slovenia openly expressed
their dissatisfaction with Slovenia’s status within Yugoslavia; they
saw it tethered economically to the rest of the country, which preferred
centralized Yugoslavia. Slovenia’s lively civil society and its
desire to become part of the European Union became a bone of contention
within the lcy and the ypa. In 1987, Slovenia demanded
from the ypa that Slovenian conscripts be allowed to perform their
national service in civilian arenas and that its officers be permitted
to serve mostly in Slovenia. 200 Slovenia also came forward with
a new concept of the state (a loose federation or a union of states) in
response to Serbia’s demand for the recentralization of Yugoslavia.
This worsened the already strained relations between Slovenia and
the ypa.
199 Protest letter from an assembly of Nova revija employees, addressed to the SFRY
Assembly and published in the Ljubljana daily Delo on September 29, 1987 .
200 In accordance with the constitution of the SFRY and the Law on National
Defense, it was agreed that 25 percent of Slovenians should serve in
Slovenia, but the YPA did not adhere to this agreement .
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