Non-ethnic Origins of Ethnofederal Institutions: The Case of Yugoslavia

Abstract

Many scholars argue that the territorial accommodation of nationalist demands usually results from “ethnic” factors, such as the threat of ethnonationalism to the integrity of the state. Using the case of the former Yugoslavia, this article shows that explanations of ethnofederal outcomes must also consider non-ethnic political factors. In the Yugoslav case, the anti-statist ideology of the central leadership provided the autonomy-seeking actors with the discursive means to neutralize their centralist opponents and, in the process, to turn the state into a confederation.