yugoslavias implosion

forward-looking government that Serbia could be expected to produce
under present circumstances. President Tadić went so far as to
sign an agreement with the eu in May 2008 and even more importantly
submitted an application for Serbian candidacy for eu membership
to the eu in December 2009. However, as long as wars, war
crimes, and crime in general still weigh heavily on the society, Serbia
can hardly be expected to enthusiastically embrace adopt democracy,
the rule of law, and tolerance as fundamental values. Resistance
to closer ties with the eu is certain to manifest itself publicly in the
shape of political rallies and less visibly in the form of bureaucratic
obstruction within Serbia’s corrupt institutions.
Since the advent of the modern Serbian state, elites have focused
their energies on territorial expansion, neglecting internal state and
social developments. This tendency has been in evidence in every
form the Serbian state has taken: the Principality of Serbia, the Kingdom
of Serbia, the first, second, and third Yugoslavia, and the State
Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and now the Republic of Serbia.
Liberals have almost always been consigned to the margins—and
thus Serbia’s elites rejected the formula put forward by liberals as
the only modus vivendi for a joint state: Yugoslavia can be viable as
a rational state community only with an institutionalized compact
that takes care of the shared interests of the republics.
The fatal consequences of rejecting this approach and instead
adopting as a national program the Memorandum offered two
choices: either a federation that would suit Serbia and the Serbs,
or Serbia as a nation-state incorporating territories populated by
Serbs, are felt today throughout the region. Serbia’s major challenges
include accepting the borders within which it is recognized by the
international community, restoring severed relations with the neighbors
it made war against, and cultivating a critical self-reflection on
its recent past.
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ChApter 4