| History 1980-1991 | ||
| Rotating Presidency | With Tito's death in 1980, the country began to impliment a rotating presidency system that gave each republic a turn to lead Yugoslavia. During this time, ethnic and nationalistic views became more prevalent in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Serbian leaders refused to grant more autonomy to the republics. |
 Football players crying after learning of Tito's death.source |
| The Start of Serb Nationalism | In 1986, the Serbian Academy of Sciences published a Memorandum detailing the supposed existance of discrimination against Serbs in Kosovo. After Slobodan Milosevic's rise to power of the Serbian Communist Party apparatus in 1987, both Croatia and Slovenia opted to move towards democratic and more European societies. In 1989, Milosevic imposed direct Yugoslav rule over Kosovo and Vojvodina. | |
| Secessions from the Union |
In December of 1990, Slovenia became independent by a plebiscite and Croatia and then Bosnia and Hercegovina followed by pulling out of the Federation. The departure prompted Milosevic, who had become the spokesperson for all Serbs not living within Serbia, and the Yugoslav national army (JNA) to intervene, which began the violent ethnic conflicts of the 1990s. | |
| Bibliography | Rothschild and Nancy M. Wingfield, Return to Diversity, A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). The Library of Congress Country Studies (Website) Good information. Reliable source from the U.S. Library of Congress, covers history well up to 1974 in Yugoslavia. Also does good job with other topics concerning the country (e.g. Economics and Geography) “Serbian and Montenegro Background Notes” from U.S. Department
of State (Website) Reliable source from U.S. Department of State. Very sparse on history of country, but covers current topics and issues very well. "Titoville" (Website) www.titoville.com Huge index of pictures. "CNN.com Cold War Profile of Tito" from CNN.com (Website) http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/tito/ Reliable news agency. Provides a short biography of Tito's life. |
