Balkan Babel

A veteran observer of the Yugoslav scene, Sabrina Ramet describes here the interlocking forces shaping a country on the verge of fragmentation. Arguing that cultural and religious values underpin political behavior, she traces the steady deterioration of Yugoslavia's social and political fabric over the past decade. This decline, she maintains, is deeply rooted in historical trauma and memory and was foreshadowed in the cultural sphere. Ramet explores the unfolding political debates from 1980 to 1986, the growing crisis triggered by the ascent to power of Slobodan Milosevic to power in Serbia, and the dramatic collapse of the existing political order beginning in 1989. She ties these events to the often-overlooked religious and cultural elements of society that have influenced political change. At this point, she contends, no aspect of Yugoslav life--from the media to gender relations to rock music--has escaped the strife-ridden nationality debate or the country's steady political decay. Ramet closes with an analysis of the military conflicts of 1991 and the quickening pressures to break up the country. This book is based on extensive field work in Yugoslavia, involving wide-ranging interviews in five republics over a period of a decade. The result is the most comprehensive survey of recent political, cultural, and religious trends in that polyglot society.