yugoslavias implosion

A DEEP-ROOTED RESISTANCE TO MODERNIZATION
Without a proactive policy on the part of the eu, Serbia’s chances
of becoming a modern democratic state are nil, given its small democratic
potential and worn-out condition. Almost the entire national
elite participated in a national project that ended in debacle. Only
after the eu realized—in 2003, after Đinđić’s assassination—that its
assessment of Serbian ambitions and Yugoslavian dynamics was mistaken
did it begin to develop a clearer strategy, essentially accepting
the idea of the dissolution of Yugoslavia as a condition for consolidating
the region. This strategy led to an independent Kosovo and an
independent Montenegro. Constitutional reforms in Bosnia-Herzegovina
are also part of a new understanding of the Yugoslav dissolution.
To stimulate positive energy in the Balkans, the eu stepped up
integrative processes in the region; left to its own devices, the region
could easily slide back into Balkanization. After adopting the decision
at the 2003 Salonika eu meeting to open an avenue for the Balkan
states to become members, the eu signed accession agreements with
Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. Croatia
is well on its way to becoming a member in 2013, while Slovenia has
already become a member, as have Bulgaria and Romania.
Lack of domestic support for change and deep-rooted resistance
to modernization are Serbia’s disadvantages. The resistance to
all things Western—a constant in Serbian history—continues despite
circumstances favoring a pro-European orientation. The wars of
the 1990s showed the readiness of states and peoples in the Balkans to
resort to violence to address their political problems, a tendency that
has deep historical roots and is closely associated with the region’s
abiding authoritarianism. The region’s political culture does not
prize the patience required to resolve conflicts through dialogue and
mediation.
The wars fought during the last decade of the last century in
the territory of the former Yugoslavia left a deep imprint on Serbian
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