yugoslavias implosion

economically, or communicationally.” 51 Ćosić insisted on the “democratic
principle of self-determination and a peaceful parting of the
ways” and on equal rights for the Serbs in Croatia. 52 He was prepared
to “grant the same rights to the Shqiptars [i.e., ethnic Albanians]
in Kosovo” because he considered the principle universal. 53 Ćosić’s
formulation of the right of self-determination carried the seed of
conflict because, in his view, Serbs would be able to exercise their
right of self-determination six times: in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and, of course, Serbia.
However, the economic situation was unfavorable for reform
and Yugoslav politicians did their best to maintain the status quo.
For the first time, Yugoslavia faced serious problems in servicing its
external debt of us$20 billion as well as its internal debt. Prime Minister
Milka Planinc’s attempts to start reforms failed and the problems
that had been poisoning the relations between the republics,
such as the question of foreign exchange, surged to the surface. The
government found it increasingly difficult, in the midst of a global
recession, to obtain credit from financial institutions demanding
serious reform.
Commissions led by Sergej Kraigher, Josip Vrhovec, and Tihomir
Vlaškalić were set up to deal with the crisis. Yet the majority of intellectuals
involved were weighed down by their Yugoslav experience
and sought solutions in conformity with it, rather than looking to
the East or to the West. Speakers at numerous seminars and congresses
argued for a multiparty system as a substitute for the playedout
one-party rule, criticizing in particular the party’s monopoly
on economic activity. The political trend was heterogeneous and,
in some aspects, even pan-Yugoslav; yet in Serbia, following the
51 Interview with Dobrica Ćosić in Politika,26 July 1991
52 Ibid .
53 Quoted in Slavoljub Đukić, Lovljenje vetra (Chasing the Wind) ( Politička ispovest Dobrice
Ćosića – Political Confession of Dobrica Ćosić), (Beograd; Samizdat Free B92, 2001)
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