Regime Transition in a Disintegrating Yugoslavia: The Law-of-Rule vs. The Rule-of-Law

Democratic transition -- that indeterminate phase between the end of an authoritarian regime and the consolidation of democratic rule -- is always a difficult and challenging period for the members of a society. In the case of Yugoslavia, problems of democratization during the early 1990's were complicated by particularly intense ethnic and inter-regional conflicts, leading eventually to an armed struggle with a very high loss of life, and widespread societal disruption. Indeed, by early 1992 the "Yugoslav crisis" had led to the disintegration of the country, and the emergence of a number of successor states.