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Yugoslavia Table of Contents

Yugoslavia

PUBLIC AND POLITICAL DECISION MAKING

YU040501.

First televised Orthodox Easter service, Cathedral of St. Sava, Belgrade, 1990
Courtesy Charles Sudetic

Yugoslavia had a long tradition of open criticism of oppression, corruption, and incompetence in government. Yugoslav governments also had a tradition of selective repression of opposition movements and leaders. As the initial split from Soviet dogma widened through the postwar decades, intellectuals such as Milovan Djilas and Dobrica Cosic, and groups such as Praxis and the editors of youth newspapers, took advantage of partial constitutional guarantees to criticize their government and society. In the 1980s, selective prosecution for such actions diminished, and by 1990 the Yugoslav public received a wide range of information and opportunities for expressing opinions.

Data as of December 1990