This thematic history of Yugoslavia in the 20th century demonstrates that the instability of the three 20th-century Yugoslav states—the interwar kingdom (1918-41), socialist Yugoslavia (1945-91), and the rump Yugoslav state created in 1992, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro—can be attributed to the failure of succeeding governments to establish the rule of law and political legitimacy.

Yugoslavia exploded onto the front pages of world newspapers in the early 1990s. The War of Yugoslav Succession of 1991-1995 convinced many that interethnic violence was endemic to politics in Yugoslavia and that the Yugoslav meltdown had occurred because of ancient hatreds. In this thematic history of Yugoslavia in the 20th century, Sabrina P. Ramet demonstrates that, on the contrary, the instability of the three 20th-century Yugoslav states—the interwar kingdom (1918-41), socialist Yugoslavia (1945-91), and the rump Yugoslav state created in 1992, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro—can be attributed to the failure of succeeding governments to establish the rule of law and political legitimacy. Ramet places emphasis on the failure of the state-building project and the absence of political legitimation, rather than on ineluctable or abstract historical forces. Based on extensive archival research and fieldwork and the culmination of more than two decades of study, The Three Yugoslavias is a major contribution to an understanding of Yugoslavia and its successor states.

Table of Contents
List of Maps
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Conventions Used in the Text
Glossary
Introduction
1. A Theory of System Legitimacy
2. The First Yugoslavia, Part 1: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, 1918–1929
3. The First Yugoslavia, Part 2: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
1929–1941
4. World War Two and the Partisan Struggle, 1941–1945
5. Happy Comrades? Tito, Stalin, and the Birth of the Second Yugoslavia, 1945–1951
6. Dreaming a New Dream, 1950–1962
7. The Reform Crisis, 1962–1970
8. The Rise and Fall of Yugoslav Liberalism, 1967–1973
9. Controversies in the Economic Sector, 1965–1990
10. Nationalist Tensions, 1968–1990
11. A Crisis of Legitimacy, 1974–1989
12. Hail Caesar! The Rise of Slobodan Milosevic´
13. The Road to War
14. The War of Yugoslav Succession, Phase 1 (1991)
15. The War of Yugoslav Succession, Phase 2 (1992–1995)
16. A Flawed Peace: Post-Dayton Bosnia
17. The Third Yugoslavia and After, 1992–2004
18. UNMIK, KFOR, and the Future of Kosovo
19. Separate Paths: Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia
Conclusion
Abbreviations and Acronyms Used in the Endnotes and Bibliography
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Author’s Biography