Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.22586/csp.v58i1.39657
On Yugoslav-American Relations During the 1980s
Nikica Barić
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The paper mainly uses various reports of the Yugoslav Federal Secretariat for Foreign Affairs to present relations between Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the United States during the 1980s, from Tito’s death until the introduction of multiparty elections in 1990. According to these sources Yugoslavia believed for most of the decade that it enjoyed American support, primarily because Washington – amid US - Soviet rivalry – viewed Yugoslavia as a crucial barrier against the expansion of Soviet influence in South-eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. This strategic consideration formed the core of U.S. policy toward Yugoslavia.
Toward the end of the decade, with Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms and the collapse of communist regimes across Europe, American interest in Yugoslavia partially diminished. Still, Washington remained committed to Yugoslavia’s territorial integrity and saw solutions to its internal problems in market-oriented reforms and democratization. The US was willing to support the reform agenda of Ante Marković, who, as Yugoslav prime minister, from 1989 attempted to steer Yugoslavia’s economy toward market principles. Nevertheless, US officials doubted whether the federal government had the capacity to implement these reforms – doubts that subsequent events ultimately confirmed.
Yugoslavia sought to maintain a role as an active international actor and occasionally clashed with U.S. policy. At the same time, Yugoslav deteriorating economic situation and heavy foreign debt made it increasingly dependent on US support, especially in dealings with International Monetary Fund. Within the framework of Cold War dynamics, Yugoslavia could expect American a certain amount of US assistance.
Several issues strained bilateral relations: segments of the US political scene were critical of Yugoslavia’s communist regime; in the late 1980s American dissatisfaction grew over the treatment of Kosovo Albanians; and Washington objected to Yugoslavia’s support for certain terrorist groups. Nonetheless, these disputes remained secondary to the principal American objective – maintaining Yugoslavia’s unity and stability throughout the 1980s and also after the fall of communist regimes in eastern Europe.
Keywords
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; United States; Jimmy Carter; Ronald Reagan; George H. W. Bush
Hrčak ID:
350878
URI
Publication date:
10.9.2026.
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