Struggling against high odds, Yugoslavia managed to survive from its inception in 1918 until the early 1990s. But now, tragic ethnic and regional conflicts have irrevocably fragmented the country. In his timely book, Lenard Cohen explores the original conception and motives underlying the ?Yugoslav idea,? looking at the state's major problems, achievements, and failures during its short and troubled history.Cohen answers a broad range of questions concerning contemporary Yugoslavia: How did the state plunge from its position as a positive model to an essentially negative case of socialist reform? What measures for recovery were proposed by the country's ethnically and regionally segmented one-party elite? What were the reasons for the eventual abandonment of reform socialism, the elimination of the single party's monopoly, and the rapid delegitimation of the country's federal political institutions? What programs have been offered by the noncommunist and ?born again? communist leaders elected to power during the revival of multiparty pluralism in 1990? How did their efforts to achieve regional and ethnic sovereignty place the country in such a precarious and ultimately fatal position?The concluding chapters of the book offer an analysis of the causes and horrifying consequences of the military conflict and civil war from 1991 to 1994, including a discussion of the impotent efforts at peacekeeping, the dynamics of the complex and savage struggle in Bosnia-Hercegovina, and an examination of the problems faced by Yugoslavia's successor states.

This book represents the first comprehensive empirical investigation of political cohesion in the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia, covering the entire period from the nation's independence to the present. The authors base their analysis on an extensive body of aggregate voting data from elections during both the precommunist and communist periods

From the end of the Cold War to the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, the NATO Alliance has changed profoundly. This book explores the multifaceted consequences of NATO's adjustment to new international and domestic political and security realities. Internal Alliance politics and matters of relative power within the membership have strongly influenced recent NATO developments. Several major issues challenging the Alliance are examined, including how the impact of efforts to develop an enhanced common European security and defense policy have affected NATO: whether missile defense is driving the United States and its European allies closer or further apart; how the experience of NATO in the Balkans and elsewhere brought alliance members together or made MATO cohesion more difficult to maintain; and in what way the changing role of NATO has influenced American and Canadian participation in the Alliance. An important guidepost to pivotal changes and likely NATO developments, scholars and policymakers of Atlantic and international politics will find these meditations indispensable.

A number of authors also speculate on the likely changes for the alliance that will ensue in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the possibility that NATO will soon modify its mission and responsibilities in reaction to the threat of international terrorism. Indeed many of the same strategies and strains that affected NATO cohesion over the past decade are likely to complicate efforts to maintain Alliance unity as part of the anti-terrorist coalition.

This book represents the first comprehensive empirical investigation of political cohesion in the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia, covering the entire period from the nation's independence to the present. The authors base their analysis on an extensive body of aggregate voting data from elections during both the precommunist and communist periods

"Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans" offers a comparative, cross-regional study of the politics and economics of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania from 1999 to the present. It was during this period that the first wave of post-communist regime transition ended and the region became more deeply involved in the challenges of democratic consolidation.

Lenard J. Cohen and John R. Lampe explore the legacies of communist rule, the impact of incentives and impediments on reform, and the magnetic pull of European Union accession. The authors ask whether the Western Balkans are embracing democracy by creating functional, resilient institutions--governmental, administrative, journalistic, and economic--and fostering popular trust in the legitimacy of those institutions.

Struggling against high odds, Yugoslavia managed to survive from its inception in 1918 until the early 1990s. But now, tragic ethnic and regional conflicts have irrevocably fragmented the country. In his timely book, Lenard Cohen explores the original conception and motives underlying the "Yugoslav idea," looking at the state's major problems, achievements, and failures during its short and troubled history.Cohen answers a broad range of questions concerning contemporary Yugoslavia: How did the state plunge from its position as a positive model to an essentially negative case of socialist reform? What measures for recovery were proposed by the country's ethnically and regionally segmented one-party elite? What were the reasons for the eventual abandonment of reform socialism, the elimination of the single party's monopoly, and the rapid delegitimation of the country's federal political institutions? What programs have been offered by the noncommunist and "born again" communist leaders elected to power during the revival of multiparty pluralism in 1990? How did their efforts to achieve regional and ethnic sovereignty place the country in such a precarious and ultimately fatal position?The concluding chapters of the book offer an analysis of the causes and horrifying consequences of the military conflict and civil war from 1991 to 1994, including a discussion of the impotent efforts at peacekeeping, the dynamics of the complex and savage struggle in Bosnia-Hercegovina, and an examination of the problems faced by Yugoslavia's successor states.

State Collapse in Southeastern Europe: New Perspectives on Yugoslavia's Disintegration is a multidisciplinary approach exploring the historical antecedents and the dynamic process of Yugoslavia's violent dissolution, drawing upon the most recently available resources. The volume, a compilation by distinguished scholars, examines issues broadening our understanding of the Yugoslav case, and also sheds light on how to deal with future episodes of state fragility and failure. The book updates, enhances, and when necessary revises explanations that have already been offered for Yugoslavia's collapse. Moreover, fifteen years after the Yugoslav crisis, the volume fills in the "blank spots" in the historical record. This careful reevaluation of Yugoslav dissolution provides needed assistance to policy makers who are routinely faced with the challenge of forging or rebuilding coherent, stable, and democratic state institutions in deeply divided societies. After an introductory chapter, an overview of the scholarly literature on Yugoslavia's disintegration, the volume is divided into three parts: the first is focused on "The Historical Legacy," including the first, interwar, Yugoslav state, and the effects of the two world wars; the second, "The Socialist Legacy," examines the reopening of the "national question," the legacy of the 1971 Croatian spring and the role of intellectual elites; and the third part, "The Breakdown of the 1980s," analyzes the failure of "Yugoslavism" and the socialist federation's descent into violence. The volume concludes with a comparative survey of the factors that account for the collapse of the three federal socialist states at the outset of the 1990s: Yugoslavia, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia.