yugoslavias implosion

Introduction
THE SUBJECT OF THIS BOOK
In this book I deal with the roots and consequences of the Serbian
nationalism that has dominated the Serbian political scene for
two centuries. I focus on the last quarter of the twentieth century
and first years of this century. Those are the years when the most
extreme form of that phenomenon caused the break-up of Yugoslavia
and hampered the emergence of a functional, democratic, modern
state.
Throughout Serbia’s history—from medieval times to the present
day—the issue of what territory should be encompassed with
the borders of the Serbian state has always prevailed over other concerns,
including national (popular) sovereignty and participative
democracy. This book not only explores the longstanding policies,
ideological patterns, and actors that led to the collapse of the Yugoslav
federation amid the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World
War II; it also seeks to explain why Serbia is still unable to come to
grips with both its recent past and its current reality. As the following
chapters argue, Serbia, still seesawing between archaism and
modernity, not ready to give up delusions about itself and the contemporary
world, is prone to further instability, political regression,
and even fragmentation.
Yugoslavia’s disintegration has been a subject of hundreds
of scholarly publications, but its complexity as a paradigm of
the post-communist development has still not been thoroughly
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IntroduCtIon