articipation in newly established parties and other popular political organizations and to the reinvigoration of society from below. At the same time, however, the very rapid politicization of ethnic issues for large proportions of the mass population has raised a whole host of vexing political problems for Yugoslavia and other East European states (Burg, 1991, 5).
The second step in the developments leading to war can be found in the question raised as to why the post-Communist Yugoslav society has been unable to solve the economic and political differences that have beset the country for so long, and part of the answer is to be found in the basic structure of the Yugoslav territorial units, called republics and provinces, and designed basically on ethnic and historical factors. All organizations in the country have been divided along these regional lines, including even the Communist Party. The regions were given extensive local autonomy, as noted, and for policies deci
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