Reform and succession in Yugoslavia: conditions and legacies (1968-1971)

Abstract

The period from 1968 to 1971 was one of the most complicated moments of the Tito regime and, from the current perspective, is key to understanding some of the events of the 1980s. This period was critical in the History of Yugoslavia because in it there was a comprehensive reformulation of the Yugoslav political system that would become the center of the dispute between the Yugoslav elites of the post-Itist era. In a short period, problems of great magnitude accumulated that revealed the deep divisions that existed in Tito's regime. During these years, the country faced problems that it had never experienced before, such as the increase in unemployment, social opposition to the regime's policies and the problem posed by Tito's succession; and experienced a resurgence of historical problems such as the problematic relationship between Serbian and Croatian nationalism mainly, although not exclusively. The confluence of these problems generated great political instability that concluded with a redefinition of the State, the Party and the economy that, although it served as a provisional solution, ended up being a complicated legacy for the following decade.