Sociološki Pregled (Jan 2018)
The opposition of ethnic interests as one of the key causes of Yugoslav state disintegration: Instead of the editorial
Abstract
Yugoslavia was created in 1918 under the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Prior to its creation, there were discussions on whether it should be a unitary state of one nation with three tribes or a federation of equal peoples. In the period between the two wars, the state was unitary, becoming a federal republic after the end of the Second World War. After the creation of the common state, there was a continuing conflict between individual peoples and their political elites, and there was visible rivalry between Serbs and Croats, in particular, that occasionally escalated into open conflicts. Over time, national relations grew increasingly complicated. In the post-war period, research found a high presence of ethnic stereotypes, distances and prejudices. There were multiple attempts to bring them into balance, by means of establishing the Yugoslav nation after the 6 January Dictatorship, then the community of equal peoples and nationalities, after the Second World War, forcing the ideology of fraternity and the unity of nations and nationalities, and finally openly advocating the thesis on the disintegration and the creation of independent national states. The final disintegration of Yugoslavia can be assessed as a result of ethnic conflicts rather than of economic underdevelopment.
