The Croatian Spring: Nationalism, Repression and Foreign Policy Under Tito

Description

Nationalism is a key topic within Balkan Studies, and the driving force behind the bloody and difficult history of the region. Under the charismatic Tito, the Yugoslavia state was successful in remaining 'non-aligned' - a friend of the West and the Soviet Union as it pursued its own vision of socialism. Using primary sources not previously utilized by western scholars, this book will document the 'Croatian Spring' – a movement 'from below' which began in the mid-sixties and pushed for liberalism and de-centralisation. A precursor to the successful Croatian Spring of the early 1970s, this flowering of political thought and action was suppressed. In particular the fall of Ranković – ousted for allegedly bugging Tito's private apartment - marks the beginning of the end of the centralised and stable Yugoslav state. Batovic also looks at the role of the West, who felt a centralised and stable Yugoslavia was in their interests and therefore colluded in the initial repression of a reformist movement.