JUGOSLOVENSKO PRIBLIŽAVANJE ZAPADU U VREME SUKOBA SA KOMINFORMOM
YUGOSLAVIA’S TURN TOWARD THE WEST DURING THE CONFLICT WITH THE COMINFORM

Summary/Abstract: Following the conflict with the Soviet Union in 1948, Yugoslavia was faced with heavy political, economic and military pressure, which forced the country’s leaders to make radical changes in foreign policy and begin a »tactical turning toward the West«. This turnabout, very unusual in that period of the world’s bipolarization, could be successfully carried out due to the mutual interest both Yugoslavia and the Western powers had for finding a compromise that would enable common actions in the international community. The extent of its success, however, depended on a large number of internal and external factors determining the foreign policies of the two sides. The reasons for the frequent ups and downs in the cooperation between the West and Yugoslavia are best shown by a classification of the specific factors present, and their varying degrees, int he three major phases of Yugoslavia’s conflict with the Cominform, from 1948. to 1955. The association between the West and Yugoslavia was most pronounced at the time when the tension between the Cominform countries and Yugoslavia verged on war. After Stalin’s death, when the danger of armed conflict decreased, the former close economic and military cooperation between Yugoslavia and the West also began to degenerate. Yugoslavia’s decision to keep an equidistant position in regard to both blocs became a definite choice toward the end of 1954 and in the course of 1955, when relations with the Soviet Union were gradually normalized. In time this course of action became the basis of the country’s new foreign policy, that of nonalignment.

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