yugoslavias implosion

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IntroduCtIon
perceived as Serbian’s traditional ally, would render them all necessary
support to that end. But the Serbian ambition to redesign Yugoslavia
as a unitary and centralized state under the domination of
Serbia could not be realized, despite Serbia’s military preponderance,
because of the stiff resistance from other nations of the former
Yugoslavia, resolved to defend their constitutional rights as equal
and sovereign peoples.
This book analyzes the policies and philosophies espoused by the
Serbian political and intellectual elite from the early 1970s onward,
when Yugoslavia began its metamorphosis into a genuine federation.
Against the backdrop of patriarchal and authoritarian Serbian
society, academics and other members of the intellectual elite have
always played a major role in shaping the outlook of the entire society.
Their interpretations of the nature and future of Yugoslavia and
the position of the people within that federation greatly influenced
the Serbian people throughout Yugoslavia, preparing them psychologically
for the ensuing wars. The political elite used quasi-historic
explanations, attractive because of their simplicity. In the prewar
decade, the principal message the elite tried to get across was that the
Serbian people would not be victims once again, would not be toothless
in the face of a new genocide. In fueling a sense of victimhood,
the Serbian elite evoked memories of World War II, when the Ustasha
fascist regime in Croatia committed genocide against the Serbs
and others, killing as many as seven hundred thousand Serbs in
one concentration camp alone. This allowed the Serbian leadership
to reconnect with the past and to promote the idea of “getting our
retaliation first.” Such an approach was backed by the Yugoslav People’s
Army, and its support helped persuade the Serbian people that a
war to build Greater Serbia would be brief and easy.
As this book shows, despite Serbian forces bring ejected from
Kosovo in 1999 and Slobodan Milošević being ejected from the Serbian
presidency in 2000, Serbia’s elites (and much of its public)