ABSTRACT
Since the summer of 1991, the multi-national Yugoslav federation has stood on the verge of disintegration. With the erosion of centralized Communist Party rule, the first multi-party elections were held during 1990 in each of the country's six republics. The present territory of Yugoslavia has been inhabited by Slavic tribes since the 7th century AD. Yugoslavia was a multinational state in which six nations had their own republic, and several nations, or "nationalities," were dispersed as minorities between one or more republics. Slovenia was the most ethnically homogeneous republic in Yugoslavia and has not been embroiled in any significant territorial or minority conflicts with its Yugoslav neighbors. The republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina presents an even more intricate, divisive, and explosive problem for Yugoslavia than either Slovenia or Croatia. Montenegro faces fewer internal and external conflicts than the other Yugoslav republics. The political and ethnic crisis in Yugoslavia also has profound economic, military, and security dimensions.
