FOREIGN POLICY OF YUGOSLAVIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1970S: AN EXAMPLE OF A MULTI-VECTOR STRATEGY

Abstract

During the first half of the 1970s, Yugoslavia was largely successful in taking advantage of the easing of Cold War tensions. Its diplomacy, led by Josip Broz Tito, maintained good relations with both superpowers, while also managing to strengthen economic ties with the European Economic Community. At the same time, the SFRY played an important role in the negotiations at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Moreover, during the early 1970s, there were no major problems in Yugoslavia’s relations with its neighbors.

However, this strengthened international position of Yugoslavia was not in line with the processes taking place within the country. Parallel to the peak of its international reputation, the SFRY—through constitutional amendments and the 1974 Constitution—accelerated the process of decentralization, which would enter an even more dramatic phase in the following decade. Thus, Yugoslav history in this period contained an obvious paradox: a state that played a prominent role on the global stage was simultaneously entering a phase of its own disintegration and eventual disappearance.

The Yugoslav multi-vector strategy, which reached its peak in the 1970s, represents a complex and demanding subject for in-depth scholarly research. Of particular importance is the question of the global conditions under which such a foreign policy was possible. Addressing this issue would also contribute to assessing the extent to which a multi-vector foreign policy of small states remains viable in the contemporary international system.