Glossary -- Yugoslavia

Cetnik (pl., Cetnici)

Name derived from the Serbian word for detachment; in full, Detachments of the Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland. Given to several Serbian resistance groups in World War II organized to oppose occupying Nazis and Croatian collaborators. Avoiding large- scale conflict with the invaders, the Cetnici mostly fought the communist Partisans (q.v.) of Josip Broz Tito. The most important Cetnik group was in Serbia, led by Draza Mihajlovic.

collectivization of agriculture

The process of imposing state control of agriculture by forming privately held land into socially owned and managed farms.

Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)

A multilateral economic alliance headquartered in Moscow. Members in 1990 included Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam. Also referred to as CMEA or CEMA.

Cominform (Communist Information Bureau)

An international communist organization (1947-56) including the communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia (expelled in 1948). Formed on Soviet initiative, it issued propaganda advocating international communist solidarity as a tool of Soviet foreign policy.

Cyrillic

Alphabet ascribed to missionary Cyril (ninth century), developed from Greek for church literature in Russian. Now the alphabet of the Soviet republics, Serbia, and Bulgaria, it is one of the three principal alphabets of the world.

dinar

Yugoslav national currency unit consisting of 100 paras. Devalued frequently since 1980. In 1980 exchange rate was YD24.9 per US$1; in 1985, YD270.2 per US$1; and in 1988, YD2,522.6 per US$1. In 1990 new "heavy" dinar was established, worth 10,000 old dinars; 1990 exchange rate was fixed at 7 dinars per West German deutsche mark. New rate January 1991 was YD10.50 per US$1.

Dual Monarchy

Popular name for the Habsburg Empire after the 1867 Ausgleich (Compromise) that united Austria and Hungary under a common monarch; arranged to bolster the waning influence of Austria in Europe. Also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

EC (European Community)

A group of three primarily economic communities of West European countries, including the European Economic Community (EEC- -q.v.), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom or EAEC), and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Executive power rested with the European Commission, which implemented and defended the community treaties in the interests of the EC as a whole. Also known as the European Communities.

EEC (European Economic Community)

The "Common Market" of primarily West European countries organized to promote coordinated development of economic activities, continuous and balanced expansion, increased stability, and closer relations among member states. Methods included elimination of customs duties and import restrictions among member states and a common customs tariff, a common commercial policy toward outside countries, and a common agricultural and transport policy.

EFTA (European Free Trade Association)

Created in 1960 to bring about free trade in industrial goods and expansion of trade in agricultural goods among member countries. In 1990 members included Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Joint EFTA-Yugoslavia Committee was established in 1978 to expand trade and industrial cooperation with Yugoslavia.

GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)

An integrated set of bilateral trade agreements among nations, formed in 1947 to abolish quotas and reduce tariffs. Yugoslavia became a member of GATT in 1965, when its tariff and trade regulations were brought into line with international practices.

GDP (gross domestic product)

A measure of the total value of goods and services produced by a domestic economy during a given period, usually a year. Obtained by adding the value of profits, employee compensation, and depreciation of capital from each sector of the economy.

GMP (gross material product)

The value added by the productive sectors before deduction of depreciation. GMP excludes the value of services in the nonproductive sectors such as defense, public administration, finance, education, health, and housing. Also known as social product.

GNP (gross national product)

The sum of the gross domestic product (GDP--q.v.) and the income received from abroad by residents, minus payments remitted abroad to nonresidents.

Green Plans

A series of federal government agricultural plans in Yugoslavia for the period 1973 through 1985, aimed at stimulating agricultural production. They provided for large foreign and domestic investment in agriculture and incentives for private agriculture.

hard currency

Currency freely convertible and traded on international currency markets.

Helsinki Accords

Signed August 1975 by all European countries except Albania, plus Canada and the United States, to endorse general principles of international behavior, especially in economic, environmental, and humanitarian issues. Helsinki Accords is short form for the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

Established with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945, a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations and responsible for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. Its main business was providing loans to its members when they experienced balance of payments difficulties.

LCY (League of Communists of Yugoslavia)

Until 1990 the sole political party of Yugoslavia. Each republic and province had a separate organization, such as the League of Communists of Macedonia. Until 1952 called the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). In 1990 the national organization split at the Fourteenth Party Congress; some republic parties took different names, e.g., the Serbian party changed its name from League of Communists of Serbia to Socialist Party of Serbia. All the republic communist parties remained intact (although reduced in membership) and ran candidates in the multiparty 1990 republic elections.

market socialism

The economic system introduced in 1963 in Yugoslavia based on worker-managed enterprises, using domestic and foreign market forces as a management guide.

nation and nationality

Juridically important distinctions that have played significant roles in Yugoslav political life, in spite of legislation that gave full equality to minorities in culture, public life, and language. The term nation was used in reference to ethnic groups whose traditional territorial homelands lay mostly within the modern boundaries of Yugoslavia, i.e., the Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Muslim Slavs, Serbs, and Slovenes. The term nationality, or national minority, designated groups in Yugoslavia whose homelands were outside Yugoslavia; the largest of these were the Hungarians and the Albanians.

pan-Slavism

A nineteenth-century intellectual movement that sought to unite the Slavic peoples of Europe based on their common ethnic background, culture, and political goals.

Partisans

Popular name for resistance forces led by Josip Broz Tito during World War II. In December 1941, adopted formal name People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments.

Serbia proper

The part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo; the ethnic and political core of the Serbian state.

social product

See GMP (gross material product).

social sector

The sector of the Yugoslav economy in which assets were socially owned and self-management governed economic activity.

Ustase (sing., Ustasa)

From the word ustanak, meaning uprising or rebellion. An extremist Croatian movement that began as an interwar terrorist organization, then adopted fascist guidelines and collaborated with German and Italian occupation forces in World War II. The movement's genocidal practices against Serbs, Muslims, and other minorities in Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina caused animosities that lasted long after the war.

World Bank

Informal name used to designate a group of three affiliated international institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), providing loans to developing countries; the International Development Association (IDA), providing credits to the poorest developing countries on easier terms than the IBRD; and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), supplementing IBRD activity by loans to stimulate private enterprise in less developed countries. The three institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group, member states must first belong to the International Monetary Fund (IMF--q.v.).

Yugoslavia - TABLE OF CONTENTS