"(it)...poured oils on the waters of nationalist discontent.." - Ramet

The 1974 Constitution was perceived as a political concession and a response by the Communist party to the expressions of nationalist discontent, expressed in demands for economic and then political decentralisation.

1965  Transfer of considerable responsibility for administration of economy to the republics

1971  Power of veto granted to Republics and Provinces

1974 Constitution establishes power for policy and legislation in areas of social policy, monetarism, trade etc. to the republics
 

Why Might the nationalities of Yugoslavia be unhappy with the 1974 Constitution?

1) If the process described by Ramet as "Cognitive Dissonance" is correct then the republics would never be happy with any political or economic reforms until the nations of Yugoslavia were totally independent of each other

2) The federalism created was inextricably bound up with the authoritarian one party state and ideology of communism, by 1974 it was obvious that the economic wealth and secular values that Marxism had promised would happen were not emerging.

3) The structure was flawed, ethnic groups were not represented proportionally within the federal structure leading to possible resentment of the larger national groups.

4) The new structure was not conductive to the idea of a collective "Yugoslav" good. Furthermore, it made decision making completely dependent on accommodation between republican elites, yet the degree of decentralisation let the republics/provinces function as 8 sub systems, which was not conducive to creating agreement.
 

- EFFECTS -

* Politicians become responsible to their republics, and to the Communist ideology only.

* Leninism suggests exploiting the "yearning for voice and representation" of nations to gain their loyalty through federalism, but in Yugoslavia in the long term federalism could not stop the process of the republics demanding more and more power.

* Creating a federal structure whilst ignoring nationalist sentiment and prohibiting pluralism was an obvious contradiction. The decentralisation of the 60's and 70's left the door open for democracy and nationalism to come together and attack Communism from within the republican structure.
 
 

Republic/ Province	Satisfaction	Level of improvement over prior situation	Number of delegates to CRP	Population (million)	Census
Serbia	Low	Viewed as a sacrifice. "Loss" of Vojvodina and Kosovo, their veto power over Serb policy resented	12	10.5	1990
Croatia	Low	Their demands for decentralisation were met, but they still had disproportionately less influence in CRP.	12	4.7	1990
Bosnia-Hercegovina	High	Increased national recognition, autonomy and bargaining power	12	4.4	1990
Macedonia	High	Increased national recognition, autonomy and bargaining power	12	2.0	1990
Vojvodina	High	Increased autonomy and bargaining power	8	1.9	1971
Kosovo	High	Increased autonomy, national recognition and bargaining power. Feeds trend of irredentism.	12	1.6	1981
Slovenia	High	Demands for decentralisation and devolution were met	12	2.0	1990
Montenegro	High	Increased national recognition, autonomy and bargainange power	12	0.6	1981