Start Date
4-24-2018 5:00 PM
End Date
4-24-2018 5:30 PM
Disciplines
Socio-Economic Issues
Description
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) existed as a peaceful country from its inception following World War II until its dissolution which began in the late 1980s. By 1992, the country ceased to exist, and wars had erupted throughout several former Yugoslav republics. In order to determine how these events unfolded, this paper first seeks to analyze ethnic relations in Yugoslavia following Tito’s death and secondly, how the deterioration among the country’s ethnic groups led to war in the early 1990s. Using path dependency theory, this paper analyzes the changes in political leadership with case studies of three Yugoslav republics and the Semi-Autonomous Region of Kosovo, and how these chains of events led to war. The shift from Titoist to nationalist leadership conveys how the environment in Yugoslav became predisposed to war. However, this paper concludes that path dependency theory cannot fully explain how war broke out, as it does not incorporate human emotions. Therefore, path dependency theory will be complemented by schismogenesis and armed mobilization theory to explain the shift from an environment predisposed to war to one engaged in civil war.
Ethnic Identity in Yugoslavia and its Role in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) existed as a peaceful country from its inception following World War II until its dissolution which began in the late 1980s. By 1992, the country ceased to exist, and wars had erupted throughout several former Yugoslav republics. In order to determine how these events unfolded, this paper first seeks to analyze ethnic relations in Yugoslavia following Tito’s death and secondly, how the deterioration among the country’s ethnic groups led to war in the early 1990s. Using path dependency theory, this paper analyzes the changes in political leadership with case studies of three Yugoslav republics and the Semi-Autonomous Region of Kosovo, and how these chains of events led to war. The shift from Titoist to nationalist leadership conveys how the environment in Yugoslav became predisposed to war. However, this paper concludes that path dependency theory cannot fully explain how war broke out, as it does not incorporate human emotions. Therefore, path dependency theory will be complemented by schismogenesis and armed mobilization theory to explain the shift from an environment predisposed to war to one engaged in civil war.
