Page "History of Serbia" Paragraph 70

When Tito died on 4 May 1980, he was succeeded by a presidency that rotated annually between the six Republics and two Autonomous Regions.

This led to a fatal weakening of central power and ties between the republics.

During the 1980s the republics pursued significantly different economic policies, with Western-oriented Slovenia and Croatia allowing significant market-based reforms, while Serbia kept to its existing program of state ownership.

This, too, was a cause of tension between north and south, as Slovenia in particular experienced a period of strong growth.

Prior to the war, inflation skyrocketed.

Then, under Prime Minister Ante Markovic, things began to improve.

Economic reforms had opened up the country, the living standard was at its peak, capitalism seemed to have entered the country and nobody thought that just a year later the first gunshots would be fired.