The Croatian Spring 1966-71 with Dr Ante Batovic hosted by Dr Bojan Aleksov

The ‘Croatian Spring’ is the national liberal movement of de-centralisation and democratisation that began in the mid-sixties after the fall of the vice president and head of the Yugoslav secret police Aleksandar Ranković. The author chronicles these developments in communist Yugoslavia, placing them in the wider context of the Cold War and Yugoslav relations with the Soviet Union and the United States.

Tito balanced national stability and his relations with East and West, until he felt that the national-liberal movements challenged his authority, and thus threaten the very foundations of the Yugoslav state. From late 1971, the liberal political and cultural classes of Croatia and other republics were abruptly purged, impoverishing Yugoslav leadership for subsequent decades.

Ante Batović is a Cold War historian, with a special interest in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. He published on the Croatian post-war history and Yugoslav foreign policy.

Bojan Aleksov is a Senior Lecturer in UCL SSEES, specialising in the nexus between religion and nationalism in modern Balkan history.

The Croatian Spring by Ante Batović is translated and developed by the Pericles Foundation and published by I.B.Tauris. This event is hosted by UCL SSEES and made possible by the British Croatian Society.

For this evening, the publisher is making the book available at a discounted rate from £69 for £25.

Wine and refreshments will be served South-East European Studies Seminar Series.

All Welcome, registration is not required.