1. ‘Yugoslavia’ after Yugoslavia
Dr Dejan Djokić

2. Wars of Yugoslav Succession:
Slovenia (1991)
Croatia (1991/92, 1995)
Bosnia-Herzegovina ( )
Kosovo (1998/99)
Violence, ethnic cleansing, international intervention
Around 120,000 people killed (just under 90,000 Muslims, Serbs and Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina, some 15,000 Croats and Serbs in Croatia and up to 12,000 Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo), several million displaced, hundreds of thousands refugees still to return home.
Political transition slowed down by war and international isolation. Economic transition also slowed down, destroyed/damaged infrastructure, high debt and unemployment, poor prospects for the young who seek to emigrate.
Post-war former-Yugoslavia still coming to terms with the recent past and political and economic instability continues throughout much of the region. Ten years ago today Zoran Djindjić assassinated.

3. Dr Zoran Djindjić, leader of the Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Serbia (2000-2003)

4. Reconciliation?
Yugoslavia as a means to reconciliation among the South Slavs.
a) 1918
b) 1945
c) today?

5. 1918
Serbia lost nearly 1M people in the First World War (around 25% of its population)
Many Austrian-Hungarian soldiers who fought Serbia were South Slavs (Croats, Slovenes but also Serbs from A-H).
The makers of Yugoslavia argued at the Paris Peace Conference that the country would be a guarantor of peace and stability in the region

6. 1945
Yugoslavia re-emerged following a four-year occupation and wars of resistance/civil/ideological wars which claimed around lives of around 1M Yugoslavs (half of them Serbs).
Ustaša genocide just the most brutal form of ethnic violence, yet the country re-emerged in How and why?
Tito’s Yugoslavia based on ‘brotherhood & unity’
‘Hidden history’ challenges the official interpretation of WWII in the 1980s
Intra-ethnic reconciliation vs. (socialist) Yugoslav unity

7. Post-Yugoslav reconciliation
‘The states of the former Yugoslavia have functioned as laboratories of transitional justice. Here we have seen the first effort at an international tribunal, the first regional system of special prosecutors and special courts for violations of international humanitarian law; the first invocation of “confronting the past” as a principle of conditionality [for EU membership]; and the first efforts in the civil sector to develop cooperative approaches to reconciliation.’
(Jasna Dragović-Soso and Eric Gordy, ‘Coming to Terms with the Past: Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in the post-Yugoslav Lands’, in Dejan Djokić and James Ker-Lindsay (eds), New Perspectives on Yugoslavia: Key Issues and Controversies, London: Routledge, 2011, pp , p. 193.
To that it may be added a first head of state to be tried at an international criminal tribunal (Slobodan Milošević at the ICTY).
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague (ICTY)
Established by UN Securty Resolution 827 in First hearings began in November As of mid indictments issued; 58 convictions, 20 guilty pleas, 13 referrals to domestic jurisdiction and 10 acquittals (this figure doesn’t include the recent, controversial acquittals of Croatian general Gotovina and Yugoslav/Serbian general Perišić). In 31 cases charges withdrawn.
High profile trials of Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević, Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadžić and general Ratko Mladić.
In investigating the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, the ICTY has ruled that it was an act of genocide.

8. ICTY achievements (source: http://www. icty
ICTY achievements (source: last accessed 12 March 2013)
BRINGING JUSTICE TO VICTIMS By holding individuals responsible for crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, the Tribunal is bringing justice to victims. The Tribunal has indicted 161 accused for crimes committed against many thousands of victims during the conflicts in Croatia ( ), Bosnia and Herzegovina ( ), Kosovo ( ) and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2001). >> Read more GIVING VICTIMS A VOICE The Tribunal has provided thousands of victims the opportunity to be heard and to speak about their suffering. Many of them displayed exceptional courage in recalling their harrowing experiences. The Tribunal preserves their testimonies in court transcripts and video recordings. >> Read more ESTABLISHING THE FACTS The Tribunal has established beyond a reasonable doubt crucial facts related to crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. In doing so, the Tribunal’s judges have carefully reviewed testimonies of eyewitnesses, survivors and perpetrators, forensic data and often previously unseen documentary and video evidence. The Tribunal’s judgements have contributed to creating a historical record, combatting denial and preventing attempts at revisionism and provided the basis for future transitional justice initiatives in the region. >> Read more DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL LAW Since its establishment more than a decade ago, the Tribunal has consistently and systematically developed international humanitarian law. The Tribunal’s work and achievements have inspired the creation of other international criminal courts, including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court. The Tribunal has proved that efficient and transparent international justice is viable. >> Read more STRENGTHENING THE RULE OF LAW The Tribunal has influenced judiciaries in the former Yugoslavia to reform and to continue its work of trying those responsible for war crimes. The Tribunal works in partnership with domestic courts in the region - transferring its evidence, knowledge and jurisprudence - as part of its continuing efforts to strengthen the rule of law and to bring justice to victims in the former Yugoslavia. >> Read more

9. ICTY failures/criticisms
Perception among former Yugoslavs the Court is biased (especially among Serbs) and that it is a political, ‘NATO/US court’
President Milošević’s first appearance at The Hague, 12 Feb 2002 (following his extradition by the Djindjić government on 28 June 2001)
ICTY methods questioned: e.g. reduced sentences and even early acquittal in exchange for evidence; its alleged attempt to re-write history of the region (though it has created an invaluable resource for historians and other scholars of the region)
Prolonged, expensive trials
States it is interested in individual guilt only, but critics point out that it has often suggested collective guilt
It has failed to bring justice and reconciliation
Domestic court(s) would have been more effective in achieving reconciliation

10. Domestic intiatives
Failed initiatives to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The ‘Commission for investigation of the events in and around Srebrenica between 10 and 19 July 1995’, established by the parliament of the Republika Srpska in December A year later, the Commission concluded that grave crimes had been committed in violation of international humanitarian law and the RS parliament issued an apology to the families of victims. Former Serbian president Boris Tadić visited Srebrenica and issued an apology. His Croatian counterpar Ivo Josipović expressed his sorrow for Serb, Jewish and Roma victims at the site of the Ustasha concentration camp at Jasenovac.
Following the fall of president Milošević in 2000, a TRC for FR Yugoslavia formed by Milošević’s successor Vojislav Koštunica, but it was short-lived.
REKOM: an initiative by NGOs from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina to form a regional TRC, but without much support from the government sector or indeed international organisations unlikely to succeed.

11. ‘Yugosphere’
Economic ties re-established while wars still going on, firstly as ‘grey economy’, but after the war as official, legal trade, economic collaboration.
Cultural ties never completely severed, have increased postwar, both in high culture (e.g. Serbian theatre groups sell out Croatian theatres, Croatian directors working in Belgrade etc) and in popular culture (e.g. Serbian and Bosnian ‘turbo folk’ hugely popular in Croatia and Slovenia, bloc-voting at Eurovision)
Sport ties (regional basketball, handball, water polo and ice hockey leagues).
Political cooperation. EU common aim – will a new ‘Yugoslavia’ emerge within the EU framework one day?
Hague Tribunal: ‘last Yugoslavia’
‘Yugosphere’: the re-emergence of a common Yugoslav space (Tim Judah)
Yugostalgia – wider nostalgia for socialism, but also nostalgia for Yugoslavia, nostalgia for Tito (Titostalgia – Mitja Velikonja)