Akademisk uenighet i jugoslaviaforskning

Abstract

This thesis had its primary focus on contemporary literature written on the topic and breakup of Yugoslavia, and the explanations given to explain why Yugoslavia disintegrated. I sought to find out whether or not there is academic consensus regarding the explanatory factors leading up to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. A short summary of Yugoslavia's history from the creation of the state in 1918 to its breakup in 1991 is included in the introduction. The summary provides background information about the organization of the country, and some explanations on how and why, the political sphere allowed the conflict to turn into the breakup of Yugoslavia. I have analyzed a limited selection of Serbian, Croatian and Anglo-Saxon literature. I have divided the authors thematically into a Serbian chapter, a Croatian chapter and an Anglo-Saxon, thus analyzing and comparing the authors based on their individual explanatory factors used to describe Yugoslavia's breakup. The selection of the literature and dividing them into national spheres, is due to my initial hypothesis that national will have an impact on the academic consensus. Upon reaching my conclusion, I've discussed and compared the authors thematically by national spheres. What I found was a huge diversity within the research field concerning the disintegration of Yugoslavia. There diversity in the explanatory factors provided by each author showed that there is no academic consensus upon explaining the Yugoslav breakup. There was also no consensus within authors in the national spheres, thus disapproving my hypothesis and proving that the lack of consensus is do each authors academic occupation and career. This thesis has also shown that the Yugoslav breakup cannot be explained by only one factor, but was due to several phenomenon interacting with each other.