ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to throw light not only on causes and consequences of the former Yugoslavia’s dissolution but also on Serbia’s perpetual clash with modern times. What I discuss here, therefore, are long-standing policies and ideological patterns that triggered the collapse of a federation, their leading actors and factors, and the bloody outcomes of the so-called national program Serbia has not yet abandoned. I explain why, in my view, Serbia is unable to come to grips with both its recent past and its reality, as well as what chances it has of coping with its current needs and constraints. I show that Serbia today is more prone to fragmentation than ever before-because it is still seesawing between archaism and modernity, unready to give up delusions about itself and the contemporary world.
