Good

by Les Zsoldos

Created on: July 31, 2007

The break up of Yugoslavia, while it came at a very heavy price in terms of life, was ultimately good. The reason is that Yugoslavia was an artificial country which could not last. Thus, it was inevitable that it would split into separate countries.

Under Marshall Tito, Yugoslavia was seen as a relatively prosperous nation with a thriving tourism industry. However, the Serbs were definitely the most dominant ethnic group in the federation. Though Yugoslavia seemed a relatively stable nation, this was far from true. It is important to remember that before Yugoslavia became a nation, virtually all the ethnic groups had independent histories.

The different regions of the former Yugoslavia were held together under a strongly centralized government in Belgrade, but after the death of Marshall Tito, tensions grew. The two ethnic groups which probably had the most tense relationship were the Serbs and the Croats.

The differences among the regions are great. The Slovenes in the north are prosperous and in many ways, similar to their Austrian and Hungarian neighbours. They are also fortunate that they are able to separate with relatively little violence. The Croats consider themselves more western than the Serbs. For example, they use the Roman alphabet and are Catholics unlike the Serbs who use the Cyrillic alphabet and are Orthodox. In the region of Vojvodina live many Hungarians who speak a language completely different from the Slavic Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Macedonian languages. The region of Bosnia and Herzegovina is different because many of the people are mixed with respect to race, being perhaps half-Bosnian and half-Serbian, for example. Also, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, many of the people are Muslims. The region of Montenegro, though in may ways similar to Serbia, had existed previously as a separate state under various dynasties. Kosovo is considerably different from the rest of Yugoslavia because of its large Albanian population, a people who are Muslim and speak a very different language. Finally, Macedonia is also different, a region whose people speak a language similar to Bulgarian.

With the differences that the regions had with respect to history, culture, language and religion, it is not surprising that they wished to be independent. The former Yugoslavia simply did not have the constitutional means necessary to prevent and manage ethnic conflict. Perhaps if more favourable arrangements had been implemented for regions such as Slovenia and Croatia, the federation could have remained in one piece. Another possibility is that they could have been granted a higher degree of autonomy, but even so, it is unclear if that would have been sufficient to keep the federation together. With the increasing ethnic tension among the regions of the former Yugoslavia, the break up of Yugoslavia, though violent and lengthy, in the end was good for Eastern Europe.

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