Blackwell Reference Online

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Bosnia-Herzegovina was a republic of Yugoslavia until 1992. The break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s resulted in a complex web of collective violence throughout the region. Unlike other communist countries in Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito had been an open society with progressive social values, albeit with sometimes oppressive politics. The country consisted of a federation of six republics – Bosnia-Herzegovina (referred to hereafter as Bosnia), Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia. In Serbia there were also two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. In Kosovo, where the vast majority of the population was Kosovo Albanian, the Serbian population had significantly declined due to demographics and poverty and was less than 5 percent in the early 1990s. In face of the growing authoritarianism of Serbia's president, Slobodan Milosevic, who took power in the late 1980s, and a belligerent Serbian nationalism, Slovenia and Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in June 1991. Their secession, permitted by the Constitution, was motivated in part by their own nationalist aspirations. In 2008 Yugoslavia's disintegration seems to be complete; Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and even Kosovo are all internationally recognized independent states. After the secession of Slovenia and Croatia, the movement for independence within Bosnia ... log in or subscribe to read full text