Introduction
Throughout Eastern Europe, many ordinary people took political action around the fall of the communist regime. Protests ranged from small events to large, violent protests that changed the composition within Yugoslavia. The dynamics of political elites and citizens began to take a different shape as the structure of the authoritarian regime evolved. Yugoslavia suffered from instability due to rapid changes socially, politically, and economically in which paved way for Milosevic Slobodan. However, there was essentially two main reasons that allowed the nationalistic Serbian mobilization of Kosovo Albanians: 1) Ordinary people adopted the ideals of the elites and
2) open opportunity during the fall of communism. Although these main reasons may overlap each other, they both are definitive in the emergence of a new leader. As revolutions prove to break ground when opportunities arise, Milosevic seized his chance at power. Nationalistic mobilization would monopolize within the Serbian community and reawaken historic ties with the Kosovo Albanians. The anti bureaucratic revolution progressed at the weakening of the Yugoslavian government. Essentially, revolutionary movements are highly opportunistic, which tends to occur in non democratic regimes with a weakened central control.
Nationalist Mobilization
Nationalist studies
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The CPY held precedence over local and state rulings and regulated nearly every aspect (economical, social, political). Although Yugoslavia’s political structure was completely redefined, cultural and historical ties of the region were dismissed. The rapid integration between the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and other ethnicities were forced to a single state. There was no acknowledgement of identity or territorial boundaries between the ethnicities, which would prove to be a vital error of judgement in terms of political
Nationalism was strong during the 19th century. The Slavic peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovinia no longer wanted to be a part of the Austria Hungary nation, but a part of Serbia. All the
After the First World War country was united with other Slav territories to form Yugoslavia. At the time, the population of Bosnia consisted of over 1,300,000 Serbs which were Orthodox Catholic Christians, million Muslim Bosnians and around 700,000 of Croats. They all were strong attached to this land by the historical and local claims. After the death of Josip Broz Tito, elections in 1990 brought nationalists to power in Slovenia, Macedonia and Croatia, which declared independence in 1991 and were recognised internationally. The Leader of Bosnia’s, Alija Izetbegovic called for independence too, and the country was recognised as independent by the USA and the EU in 1992. However, Bosnia’s Serbs weren’t happy because they wanted to be part of “Greater Serbia”. a Serbian named Slobodan Milosevic, a former Communist responded to Bosnian’s declaration of independence by attacking and bombarding the capital city, Sarajevo. Serbs shot down civilians in the streets, including over 3,500 children.
One of the youngest nations of Europe, Yugoslavia was created after World War I as a homeland for several different rival ethnic groups. The country was put together mostly from remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. Demands for self-determination by Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and others were ignored. Yugoslavia thus became an uneasy association of peoples conditioned by centuries of ethnic and religious hatreds. World War II aggravated these rivalries, but Communist dictatorship after the war controlled them for 45 years. When the Communist system failed, the old rivalries reasserted themselves; and in the early 1990s the nation was rent by secessionist movements and civil war. Within several years these conflicts
The Czech Republic and Slovakia were now able to own their own businesses. They could move freely for jobs and homes. The countries are now able to vote as they wish. They did however change their language. All countries in the Soviet Union used to speak German. Now Czech is spoken in the Czech Republic and Slovak is spoken in Slovakia. The national anthem changed, both countries now have their own. In the Soviet Union the religion was Atheism, and now Czechoslovakia is free to believe whatever they want. The soviet Ruble was the currency in the Soviet Union and then it changed to the Czechoslovak Koruna and finally, when Czechoslovakia split, it changed to Czech Koruna in the Czech Republic and the Euro in Slovakia. The government in the Soviet Union was dictatorship. Now, a Parliamentary Republic is the form of government in Slovakia and Czech Republic. Although life after the Soviet Union collapsed was free, some people say it was easier to live in the Soviet Union because everything was already set and organized for you. They were not making many of their own decisions. However, when Czechoslovakia became free, the people realized that they had more freedom. They had to make decisions on their
The cold war made a significant change to Eastern Europe. After WWII the Soviet Union wanted to spread their ideologies of communism and in order for them to do that, they
First, before the Second World War, the nation of Czechoslovakia had been a strong democracy in Central Europe, but beginning in the mid 1930s it faced challenges from both the West and the East. Until the Soviet’s invasion where they installed a whole new communist government in Prague. For the next twenty
Under the pressures of the Soviet regime's plans for economic development, the Russian people were worn down. Subsequently, the willingness of these people to do further work for the Soviet cause was wavering. The transfer of power within the Communist Party also provided a source of instability within the USSR. Infighting over potential leadership changes provided a very real force of upheaval within Russia. These weaknesses showed that the USSR may bring about its own downfall.
The Revolutions of 1989 during the late 20th century were events which resulted in the end of power under Communism throughout Eastern and Central Europe and parts of Asia. Several nations such as Poland, Ukraine, and East Germany abandoned a communist government and control of the Soviet Union. It was a period where the global superpower was slowing its pace in global dominance. Several reasons being that under a communist system people were persecuted for religious worship and had to face authoritarian rule by typically a dictatorship or a particular dominant party due to repression. The other reason also being poverty within the populations.
Before World War II, Soviet troops occupied most of Eastern Europe. Stalin promised to hold “free elections” in these Eastern European nations. Later he broke that promise. By 1948, Communists controlled the governments of every Eastern country except Yugoslavia. In each country the Soviets placed dictators.
Bosnia-Herzegovina was made up of three main ethnic groups, Bosniak Muslim, Serb, and Croat (Bosnia-Herzegovina). Before Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia had a history of political, economic, and cultural conflict. Towards the end of World War II, Tito, a communist, ran Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia’s government fell apart and each nation had its own self-rule to be apart of the
“Otpor! Bringing Down a Dictator” shares many examples of outside manipulation affecting the revolutionary thresholds of individuals living in Serbia. First and foremost, Srdja Popovic explained, “People think that you have to chop off the top of the monolith. That’s revolution. No, we say Otpor wants democracy. Not by chopping off heads. Serbians must depose their leader through elections. This will prove that Serbians are civilized. (York, 2002). Popovic was explaining how to achieve a successful revolution through peaceful protest. In doing so, Otpor could inspire others to join their movement while maintain a level of dignity for Serbia. Over time the efforts of Otpor reached people all throughout Serbia who were willing to participate in protest in order to obtain true democracy for
Furthermore, these wars cannot be fully understood without a basic knowledge of the former Yugoslavia. Formally known as the Soviet Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, it was a federation that was comprised of six socialist republics: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Additionally, two autonomous provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, were established in Serbia. Many different ethnic groups called Yugoslavia home, namely the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosniaks, Albanians, and Montenegrins. However, the presence of large ethnic minorities across republic lines made things complicated, especially with the advent of rising nationalism among these different peoples. The borders of the republics had originally been of little significance; Josip Tito, the beloved leader of the Communist Party in Yugoslavia, decided the borders with little opposition from anyone, as the federation was supposed to be a centralized “dictatorship of the proletariat”. Only with later decentralization and democratization would any concern for the individual republics and nationalities be voiced and nationalism become an issue. Tito’s death in 1980 seemed to suddenly remind all the Yugoslav peoples that they had in fact retained their separate ethnic identities and that the ethnic identity of Tito’s successor would certainly affect them, whether positively or negatively, and inter-republic relations began deteriorating quickly. Tito and his communist
The catastrophes of the past are the foundation of the future, events that occurred in the past cause people to envision a “better life” of not only for themselves but a society as a whole. By envisioning a better future individual rose up, advocated ideas, and policies that they believed would help in advancing their countries. For the purpose of this course, let us discuss the uprising of the Russian government and the European Council; both as single entities have their own goals, but collectively they seek to benefit their country(‘s) and promote prosperity, but through history and the changes of power has that aim been reached? Or if it is already has reached it, will these forms of government fail?
The land of Kosovo has been plagued with tension for hundreds of years being claimed by several surrounding countries. The two biggest contenders, Albanians in Kosovo and Serbia have been fighting for the land, which culminated in a full war from 1998-1999. The war brought international attention to the war crimes committed by both sides, and proved that the two countries had years to go before coming to a solution. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) led by Kosovo Albanians, and the Serbian militia led by President Slobodan Milošević committed heinous crimes against their enemies. Crimes range from ethnic cleansing to rape and destruction of whole villages. The violence created a serious refugee problem that is still relevant today.
When a nation undergoes a political revolution, the result includes features that are unique to its state. However, by comparing political upheavals of different states, we can find broader themes that shed light on the historical and regional environment. For this reason, this paper will compare the similarities between the aspirations listed in the Polish-Lithuanian 1791 Constitution and Hungary’s 1848 Declaration of Independence. This comparison, will find broader trends calling for both new and old political structures. We can start by looking at the call for limited monarchical power.