ABSTRACT
Inevitably, the war contributed to a strong popular identification of the regime with Serbian nationalism itself, thus undermining the already weak position of the opposition. With the economy spinning rapidly out of control, Milosevic made a bold move in December 1993, appointing Dragoslav Avramovic, a hitherto little-known economist, to put together an austerity program. One man explained to Tito that now "everyone has their own flag, state and coat of arms. For only two hills, 200-300 boys must die". An old man stopped to accuse him of being pro-American and betraying the Soviet Union in 1948. Milosevic consolidated his power by mobilizing society, by exploiting the wider nationalist potential of a reawakening of civil society in Serbia. But this reawakening of civil society did not lead, as some theoreticians would have had it, to the emergence of a democratic system.
