Toward Rangoon: Cold War Internationalism and the Birth of Yugoslavia's Globalism

Abstract

Abstract:The international history of Yugoslavia during the Cold War is dominated by two correct, but overly familiar images that through repetition have defined the Tito regime. The first is that of a Yugoslavia balancing between the superpowers while the second extends the image into the realm of ideology. But set within the language of International Relations, from the Tito-Stalin split of 1948 until the waning hours of the Cold War, Yugoslavia was a regional power that sought, and was to a degree successful, in cultivating a realm of strategic ambiguity between competing world hegemons. Therefore, this article seeks to show how a distinct strategy of self-determination on the part of the Yugoslav leadership broadens this history into something global. In other words, analyzing the role that Yugoslavia played specifically in Asia—or, its observations of Asian affairs—shows that smaller actors had important roles to play in the Cold War.