Review: The Yugoslav Drama
| Published date | 01 December 1994 |
| Author | Charles King |
| Date | 01 December 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209404900415 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
961
confused
by
the
European
Community
whose
central
institutions
it
con-
sistently
misunderstood.
It's
a
miracle
we
all
survived.
David
A.T.
Stafford/University
of
Edinburgh
THE
YUGOSLAV
DRAMA
Mihailo
Crnobrnja
Kingston
&
Montreal:
McGill-Queen's
University
Press,
1994,
xiv,
281pp,
$42.95 cloth,
$15.95
paper
In
The
Yugoslav
Drama,
Mihailo
Crnobrnja
has
provided
a
highly
read-
able
and
historically
informed account
of
the
disintegration
of
the
south
Slav
federation.
His
narrative
underscores
what
many
Western
journalists
and
politicians
have
normally
ignored:
that
the
failure
of
Yugoslavia
was
the
failure
of
politics,
not
the
triumph
of
'ancient
hatreds' or
'Balkan
mentalities.'
The
lack
of
democratic institutions
and
civil
liberties
in
Yugoslavia
in
the
late
198
os
meant
that
the
divisive
ideologies
of
nationalism
and
ethnic
exclusivism
were
supremely
effec-
tive
resources
for
communist-era
apparatchiks
seeking
to
secure
their
own
political
futures.
It
is
thus
little
wonder
that
-
throughout
eastern
Europe
-
the most
ardent
communist
internationalists
have
now
become
the most
zealous
post-communist nationalists.
For
Crnobrnja,
there
is
no
over-all
pattern
which
might
unite
the
various
pieces
in
the
Yugoslav
puzzle,
but
he
does
see
three
areas
as
paramount
in
explaining
the
state's
demise:
aggressive
nationalism
itself, primarily
of
the
Serb
variety;
an
inadequate
domestic
political
system
which,
because
of
its
absence
of
democratic
reforms,
magnified
the
importance
of
nationalism
as
a
political
resource;
and
the
inter-
national
environment
of
the
late
198Os,
which
reduced
the
importance
of
Yugoslavia as
a
communist
maverick
and
caused
Western
policy-mak-
ers
to
ignore
the
worsening
crisis
in
southeastern Europe.
Crnobrnja's treatment
will
be
of
interest
to
the
general
reader
with
little
familiarity
with
Balkan
history
or
politics.
More
knowledgeable
readers
will
find
that
this
book
falls
between
several
stools.
It
does
not
offer
a
detailed
historical
account
(as
does
Noel
Malcolm's
recent
his-
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