Kosta Nikolić, ON THE WAR AIMS IN THE 1991–1992 YUGOSLAV CONFLICT
DOI 10.29362/2589.nik.243-269
This text attempts to identify the war aims in the Yugoslav conflict, distinguishing the real from the proclaimed goals of the sides in this conflict. The focus is on the analysis of the relations between the key protagonists (Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia) which did not lead to the peaceful resolution of the Yugoslav crisis. The wartime goals of the different sides in Bosnia-Herzegovina are also analyzed, in an attempt to understand the violent separation of their hitherto intertwined identities. In order to realize their goals, the instigators of the warfare were prone to unilateral, mutually antagonistic, and hostile actions, spreading fear and insecurity among the population. The circle of protagonists of the warfare kept widening as the ruling elites were inciting political mobilization in their immediate surroundings, which led to the breakdown of the Yugoslav federal system and furthered the ethnicization of the conflict.