ABSTRACT
Near the end of December 1990, in an effort to resolve outstanding differences among the republics concerning Yugoslavia's future structure, the federal presidency organized a special round of discussions that were to include all of the country's principal regional and federal decisionmakers. Four closely related issues proved to be especially divisive from the outset of the talks: the status and value of maintaining the Yugoslav federation, the right of republics to secede from the existing federation, the character of republican borders, and the most desirable type of future political arrangements among the republics. The serious differences among the republics regarding Yugoslavia's future suggested that reaching a negotiated compromise would be exceedingly difficult, but the escalating atmosphere of interrepublican and interethnic distrust and tension outside the negotiations made the chance of a peaceful political settlement even more remote. In addition to the conflict between the military and Croatia, other problems and episodes cast a shadow over the initial negotiations.
