2. Inevitable Disintegration

From the start of the 1980s, Yugoslavia underwent a deep economic and social crisis. The mechanisms of redistribution between the Yugoslavian republics were no longer functioning, and each republic became more inward looking, exacerbating national tensions. The myth of a unified Yugoslavian society now belonged to the past. It was then that Slobodan Milosevic, an obscure apparatchik, appeared in Serbia. His project was to save the system by recentralising it with Serbia at its head. This was the return of Serb nationalism. But the disintegration of Yugoslavia was underway. One after the other the republics seceded and proclaimed their independence. War became inevitable. The explosion of nationalisms, the manipulation of past tragedies and the suicidal strategies of the main political players had taken their toll.