Brotherhood and unity? The relationship between nationalism and socialism in socialist Yugoslavia

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explain, based on academic theories, the nation building process in and disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia. I will analyze both these processes through the constructivist theory on nationalism as formulated by Gellner, Hobsbawm and Anderson and thereby not opting for oversimplified stereotypes about ‘the Balkans’. With the current rise of nationalism all over Europe this stereotype becomes harder to maintain and can’t explain what happened in socialist Yugoslavia. The goal of my master thesis is to give an explanation of how the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was able to disintegrate by the forces of ethnonationalism (especially Serbian and Croatian) I will start by giving a historical analysis of the SFRY communist policy regarding nationalism and nation building. How did communist policy influence the outbreak of the conflict in the early 1990s? And how did the local nationalists react to this? The summary of the research question is thus as followed: Why and how was it possible that the SFRY was to ultimately disintegrate through the forces of ethno-nationalism?