The Collapse of Federations: Elite Political Mobilization in the Dissolutions of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia

Why did seemingly stable East European federations, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, break up after the collapse of state socialism? Modernization under state socialism, which aimed to equalize economic development levels between regions in the two federations, caused the respective ethnic elites to experience a shift in aspiration levels, claim relative deprivation, and mobilize in pursuit of resources. Ethnic elites of the economically inferior groups offensively mobilized to demand more resources and concessions from and within their respective federations. In reaction to demands by the other groups, the economically dominant groups mobilized defensively to protect their status. In the complex pattern of interacting and mutually reinforcing offensive and defensive mobilizations, enabled by a considerable external shock in the international political arena, the defensive, resource driven mobilization of political elites of the economically dominant ethnic groups resulted in the dissolution of the two federations. The analysis fills a gap in comparative studies of the two dissolutions, and will be of interest to political scientists and observers of Eastern Europe.