en the republican Communist elites could no longer agree on how to share power; some wanted to dominate Yugoslavia politically; others, economically" (p. 77). The agendas of the differing factions of the elites were divided along nationalist lines. The Serbian Communists favored political domination while the Slovene and Croat Communists opted for economic measures.
Out of this vacuum of a singular power to guide Yugoslavia emerged Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic seized control of the Serbian Communist party and embarked on an agenda to create a strong Serbian nation. One of the tactics used was the manipulation of the media. Although freedom of the press was supposedly guaranteed, most of the news media were tightly controlled by Milosevic and subjected to strict censorship. In 1989, the LCY disbanded and Milosevic formed the Serbian Socialist Party.
The impressive election victories of Milosevic's Socialist Party influenced other political factions in Yugoslavia. Many retreated into nationalism: " . . . groups manipulated and exploited nationalism to the point where they could no longer control it, and this has played the most destructive role in the breakup of the Yugoslav state" (Mojzes, 1994, p. 154).
Historians consider the late 1980s to have been the final opportunity for unification in Yugoslavia. The four options available to Yugoslavia at that time were unregulated Western capitalism, Communism, anarchy with accompanying violence, or successful reform. As one political analyst put it, " . . . the three undesirable alternatives were the Americanization, the Polandization, or the Lebanonization of Yugoslavia" (Mojzes, 1994, p. 64). By 1989, it appeared that Yugoslavia was well on its way to successful reform; such favorable conditions were to be short-lived, however, due to political in-fighting.
Yugoslavia failed to make a permanent transition from Communism to democracy despite the valiant effort...