Bullettin n. 1/2011 | ||
June 2011 | ||
Roesler Jörg |
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Nationalism and Economic Disparities Lessons from the Dissolution of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and the Secession of the Baltic States | ||
in Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe , vol. 18, n. 3 , 2010 , 341-354 | ||
The author argues that without consideration of the economic development neither the mass support for the independence movement nor the timing of the separation can be fully explained. The 1980s were years of economic crises in the three federations. The autonomy movements in the federal units began to feed their people with nationalist slogans accusing the central governments of misusing their power over the command economy. Economic warfare between periphery and centre precluded secession. The question, whether independence fulfilled the popular dreams of renewed economic prosperity within the borders of the new states is answered in the final part of this article. | ||