Elusive Compromise: A History of Interwar Yugoslavia

Review Fascinating and compelling. An extremely important addition to the historiography of Yugoslavia. (V.P. Gagnon, Ithaca College)An original and provocative study of a key episode in Yugoslavia's history. (Wim van Meurs Canadian Journal of History 1900-01-00) Product Description Based on Dejan Djokic's original research in Croatian, Serbian, British, and American archives, Elusive Compromise is a unique history of the original, interwar Yugoslavia of 1918-1941. Unlike other scholars, Djokic argues that this period can be best understood by analyzing political attempts to reach a Serb-Croat compromise. Historians have long recognized the Croats' rejection of state centralism, but Djokic shows that, by the mid-1930s, many Serbs had accepted federalism as well. During this period, it is commonly believed that Serbs and non-Serbs were engaged in constant conflict; however, Djokic argues that the radicalization leading to the war years of 1941-45 and the subsequent communist takeover was instead a response to the political mismanagement of the country. Elusive Compromise places Yugoslavia in the context of a Europe-wide struggle between democracy and dictatorship and provides a thorough understanding of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and other multinational states. About the Author Dejan Djokic is lecturer in Serbian and Croatian studies at the University of Nottingham and the editor of Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992.