Week 6: Case Study Yugoslavia

1
Week 6 Case Study- Yugoslavia

• Readings
• Reader Djilas
• Crnobrnja 15-34, 65-114 and 141-188

2
Guiding Questions

• What role did ethnicity play in Yugoslav
  politics?
  
• What role did it play in the Yugoslav conflict?
• What factors explain the Yugoslav conflict?

3
The Former Yugoslavia

• Yugoslavia no longer exists.
• Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia
  independent.
  
• Montenegro and Serbia split in 2006.
• Status of Kosovo to be determined.

4
Historical Background

• The former Yugoslavia consisted of six republics
  and two autonomous districts.
  
• Historical legacy of imperial conquest.
• Former Yugoslav territories held by the Ottomans
  and the Austro-Hungarian empires.
  
• Extremely diverse composition.
• Diversity not always a source of conflict.

5
Religion in Yugoslavia

• The three major religions (Greek Orthodox, Roman
  Catholic, and Islam) have their roots in imperial
  control.
  
• Communist era attempted to erase these religious
  divisions.
  
• Greek Orthodox with the largest following
  (approximately 50).
  
• Roman Catholics (25) and Islam (20).
• North and west are more Catholic, south and east
  are more Orthodox.
  
• Intermingling of the three in Bosnia and
  Herzegovina.

6
Ethnicity in Bosnia
7
Points of Contention

• Religion was a cause of contention after the fall
  of Communism.
  
• Language formed the basis of many disputes within
  the territory.
  
• Attempt to give voice to five nations within
  one republic.
  
• Some nationalities were arguably invented, while
  others were ignored.

8
Difficulties in Governance

• Governing in this context appears quite
  difficult.
  
• But looking back, Yugoslavia was relatively
  wealthier than other Eastern European states.
  
• And, relatively peaceful.
• Decisions made by Tito are key to explaining the
  relative calm.

9
Chetniks and Ustashi

• During WWII, creation of fascist puppet states
  within the region.
  
• Ruled by the Ustashi.
• Attempt to create a racially pure Croatia.
• The number of people killed varies, but the
  fighting was extremely brutal.
  
• Serbs responded by forming their own nationalist
  group, the Chetniks.

10
Chetniks and Ustashi

• The Chetniks used guerilla warfare tactics to
  respond to the Ustashi.
  
• Chetniks fought against German and Italian
  forces.
  
• Atrocities committed by both sides, but the
  Ustashi had control of state institutions which
  magnified their effects

11
Rise of Tito

• Josep Broz Tito controlled the Yugoslav Communist
  Party.
  
• Outlawed group formed as a national political
  force.
  
• Began to fight openly against the fascists in
  1941.
  
• Positioned the movement to fill the political
  vacuum in the postwar era.

12
Rise of Tito (cont.)

• Tito and the partisans were well placed to
  dictate the terms of the postwar consensus.
  
• Infuriated both Croat and Serb nationalists.
• Elections were rigged to favor the partisans, but
  they would have likely won anyway.
  
• Tito saw the need to reduce ethnic strife.

13
Rise of Tito (cont.)

• Policies of Brotherhood and Unity aimed to create
  respect for nations.
  
• Aftermath of the fighting between the Ustashi and
  the Chetniks made this difficult.
  
• Favored decentralizing authority.

14
Rise of Tito (cont.)

• Made each republic equal in terms of voting
  authority despite population.
  
• This under-represented Serbia.
• Tito reduced the bargaining power of the Serbs to
  allay fears that Serbia would dominate the
  political system.
  
• Creating autonomous provinces within Serbia
  achieved this goal.
  
• The CPY was the central governing apparatus.

15
Communism in Yugoslavia

• Abandoned central planning and allowed for some
  level of free enterprise.
  
• Economic growth surpassed other Communist
  systems.
  
• Titos economic policies put himself at variance
  with Stalin in the USSR.
  
• Policy of non-alignment further irritated the
  USSR.
  

16
Titos Last Years

• Economic shocks created political instability.
• As Tito aged, the glue of the regime, the CPY,
  weakened.
  
• Tito did not designate a successor.
• Tito ruled during a time of political ascendance,
  but his death created a vacuum.
  
• Brotherhood policy worked while Tito was alive,
  but his death made its continuance problematic.
  

17
Yugoslavia After Tito

• Rotating presidency came into effect following
  Titos death.
  
• No consensus over needed political and economic
  reforms.
  
• Massive loans provided short term economic
  relief, but not viable in the long term.
  
• Rationing of resources signified a sharp reversal
  of economic resources.
  
• Nationalism begins to raise its head, especially
  regarding the veto authority limiting Serbian
  activity.
  

18
Serbian Resentment

• Political inertia in the face of growing economic
  and political unease led to calls for a political
  response.
  
• Institutional position of Kosovo and Vojvodina
  made reform impossible.
  
• Enhancing Serbian political authority would
  require unanimity.

19
Memorandum on the Position of Serbia

• Pushed for a classless society.
• Sought to re-assert equality of the Serbian
  nation with full republic status for Serbia.
  
• Used the UN Declaration of Human Rights to decry
  Serbian position within Yugoslavia.
  
• Advocated further economic and political reforms.

20
Rise of Milosevic

• Milosevic began his rise within the Serbian
  Communist party.
  
• Response to the beatings of the Serbs in Kosovo
  nobody is going to beat these people pushed him
  to the leadership of the Serbian party.
  
• Began to advocate removing the special status of
  Kosovo and Vojvodina.
  

21
Serbian Response

• Milosevic needed to solve the political
  institutional question in order to solidify his
  leadership.
  
• Organized rallies for truth to ensure Serbs
  knew how their brethren were treated in
  Kosovo.
  
• Milosevic begins to be seen as a savior.
• Milosevic maneuvers to topple leadership in
  Vojvodina.

22
Kosovo and Montenegro

• Truth rallies in Kosovo provoked an Albanian
  response.
  
• As leader of Serbia, Milosevic sent in the police
  and the army.
  
• After the arrest of the Albanian leader, the
  Kosovar leadership signed Serbian changes to the
  constitution.
  
• This ignited Serbian nationalism in the other
  republics.
  
• Montenegro falls into place.

23
Raising the Stakes

• Attempts to hold a truth rally in Ljubljana are
  thwarted.
  
• Truth rally tactics did not work in Bosnia and
  Croatia.
  
• Franjo Tudjman stirs up Croat nationalism in
  response to Milosevic.
  
• Aimed to make Croatia for the Croats

24
Slovenian and Croatian Conflicts

• Slovenia and Croatia declare independence in July
  1991, marking the official start of the war.
  
• Slovenia leaves with relatively little fuss.
• Croatia not allowed to leave.
• Serbs controlled the Yugoslav army fighting
  against Croat nationalist forces.
  
• Battle of Vukovar and the siege of Dubrovnik were
  key battles.
  
• Croatian independence recognized by international
  system.

25
War in BiH

• Tudjman declared that BiH would be partitioned.
• Milosevic made retaining BiH key.
• Phase 1 Getting the Yugoslav army (Serbs) out of
  BiH led to a Muslim-Croat alliance.
  
• Propaganda wars ensued to stir up ethnic
  passions.
  
• When the Yugoslav army left, it destroyed
  anything of value in its path.
  
• Phase 2 Serbian attempts to remove Muslims to
  create a land link to Kosovo.
  

26
International Responses

• Initially, international condemnation
  strengthened Serb resolve.
  
• The June 1992 UN ultimatum to stop the fighting
  or face military action was ignored.
  
• Fighting between the three major ethnic groups
  continued as the West pondered how to respond.

27
Implications for Theories of Ethnicity
Primordialism

• Yugoslavia was relatively peaceful under Tito,
  undercutting the idea that these were deep ethnic
  hatreds.
  
• But once Milosevic and Tudjman played the ethnic
  card, people responded quickly, supportive of
  primordialist theories.

28
Implications for Theories of Ethnicity
Instrumentalism

• The peace during the postwar years is consistent
  with the instrumental view of ethnicity ethnic
  identity is one of many identities and is
  malleable.
• Relatively high levels of intermarriage support
  the instrumentalist claim.
  
• But people responded relatively quickly to
  nationalist appeals.

29
Implications for Civil Conflict Grievances
(Bottom Up Theories)

• Davies Economically, these were tough times for
  the Yugoslav economy.
  
• But economic grievances had existed prior to
  Titos death. Why did the conflict erupt in the
  1990s and not the 1970s?

30
Implications for Civil Conflict
Instrumentalism/Entrepreneurialism

• Titos policies of Brotherhood and Unity were
  useful in stemming nationalism in the postwar
  era.
  
• Milosevics and Tudjmans nationalist appeals are
  consistent with the political entrepreneurial
  explanation of conflict.
  
• So leadership matters
• Geertz (ethnic grievances) Explains why the rank
  and file fell into place. The use of Ustashan
  symbols rallied the Croats and coupled with the
  perceived partiality of the West provoked the
  Serbs.

31
Implications for Civil Conflict State Capacity
(Top Down Theories)

• But the states inability to respond to
  grievances and political posturing was also key.
  
• The weakness of the Yugoslav Communist party made
  nationalism a viable option.
  
• Consociational institutions unfairly restricted
  Serbian political action.
  
• Consociational institutions also made necessary
  reforms difficult.
  

32
Next Unit

• Political Institutions Presidentialism and
  Parliamentarism
  
• Eagles et al. CH 8 and 9 and Shugart and
  Mainwaring (reader)
  
• Political Institutions Electoral Systems and
  Party Systems.
  
• Eagles et al. CH 10 and 11 and Lijphart (reader)
  and Cox (reader)