yugoslavias implosion

282
ChApter 4
socialist legacy. Serbia especially was not ready to embark on Yugoslavia’s
transformation, and Serbia’s alliance with parts of Yugoslavia’s
conservative and dogmatic governing apparatus (the ypa and
secret services) ensured that Yugoslavia would not have a peaceful
transformation.
The collapse of Communism in Yugoslavia created an ideological
vacuum into which nationalism stepped. In some parts of the
Soviet bloc, nationalism played a constructive role in the transition
to democratization; in some cases, however, it triggered conflict.
In Yugoslavia, multiple nationalisms found themselves confronting
one another. Some sought greater autonomy from Belgrade and
the opportunity to develop democratic societies; Serbia, though,
saw such moves as threats to itself. The policy of war was Serbia’s
response to the unstoppable process of Yugoslavia’s decentralization
and democratization in the face of the other republics’ increasing
autonomy.
In 1990, while historian Eric Hobsbawm 487 was predicting a
resurgence of nationalism as a reaction to the liberalization of former
socialist societies, Serbian nationalists concluded that the time
was ripe to implement their ambitions for a nation state (i.e., an
ethnic state). The ensuing surge of Serbian nationalism, skilfully
whipped up by the media, mobilized the Serbian people throughout
Yugoslavia, from Croatia to Bosnia to Kosovo. The fact that events
succeeded each other so rapidly that other republics had little time
to organize and respond adequately indicates that the scene was set
for the Serbs to tear Yugoslavia apart. Serbian Communism met its
tragic end in radical Serbian nationalism—which left a bloody trail
throughout Yugoslavia. 488
487 Eric Hobsbawm, Nation and Nationalism since 1780: Program, Myth, Reality
(Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992) .
488 Some analysts argue that it was populists (narodnjaci), rather than nationalists, who
propelled the wave of secessionist sentiment . These populists proclaimed themselves
to be “nationalists,” but in reality their ambitions had more to do with creating a mass