Having traveled in the Balkans, I was somewhat surprised at the level of Yugo-nostalgia among people in most of the former Yugoslav states. It did seem to be relatively limited to older people, and I did of course see plenty of displays of overt nationalism as well.
I know that in the West it's common to say that Yugoslavia was likely to fail from the outset. Many of the Croats and Serbs I talked with though were more skeptical. And indeed, it's often forgotten that the Croats (and Slovenes) merged with Serbia after WWI out of their own free accord.
So what POD allows Yugoslavia to endure to the present day? Could a stronger central government in the post-Tito Constitution have saved the country? Could additional U.S. aid in 1989/1990 have mitigated the economic depression that helped revive Croat and Slovene nationalism? Could European unity against recognizing Croat and Slovene independence have prevented an unraveling?
And if Yugoslavia does endure, is it in the EU today? Is its standard of living more like, say, Bulgaria or Romania's, or like Greece or Spain?
I know that in the West it's common to say that Yugoslavia was likely to fail from the outset. Many of the Croats and Serbs I talked with though were more skeptical. And indeed, it's often forgotten that the Croats (and Slovenes) merged with Serbia after WWI out of their own free accord.
So what POD allows Yugoslavia to endure to the present day? Could a stronger central government in the post-Tito Constitution have saved the country? Could additional U.S. aid in 1989/1990 have mitigated the economic depression that helped revive Croat and Slovene nationalism? Could European unity against recognizing Croat and Slovene independence have prevented an unraveling?
And if Yugoslavia does endure, is it in the EU today? Is its standard of living more like, say, Bulgaria or Romania's, or like Greece or Spain?