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The Yugoslav and the present EU integration crisis display several parallels. In both cases, the integration models have proved to be unable to attenuate the uneven development patterns, and the state has been characterised by strong confederal elements. Deep economic crisis strengthened in both cases the centrifugal tendencies. The political discourse became increasingly dominated by the question "who exploits whom?". While central authorities pursued policies of neo-liberal structural adjustment eroding its legitimacy among the popular classes, the republican authorities in Yugoslavia, respectively, the national governments in the EU tried to shift the burden of the crises to the others and strengthened their role during the crisis management. With the deepening of the crisis, constitutional reform became an issue in Yugoslavia. In the Yugoslav case, the various proposals proved to be irreconcilable. In the EU, a debate on its future shape has begun as well. This issue is highly controversial. In the EU, a key problem is the relationship between euro zone and non-euro zone states. Such an institutional divide did not exist in Yugoslavia. It is significant that the leading state of the non-euro zone group, the UK, is the first state to exit the EU. A key question is whether the EU has already passed the critical point where a deep reform is still possible.

The close link between economic and political power is the key characteristic of oligarchic rule. Different forms of oligarchic rule and structures have emerged during the capitalist transformation in Eastern Europe over the last 25 years. The article compares oligarchic rule in the successor states of multinational federations that disintegrated after 1989 – i.e. the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. From a comparative perspective, it analyses the emergence of domestic oligarchic groups, the (sub-)sectors of their economic activities and their relationship to the semi-peripheral states (in particular their relationship with political parties as a key transmission belt into state decision-making centres).

"The dose link between economic and political power is the key characteristic of oligarchic rule. Different forms of oligarchic rule and structures have emerged during the capitalist transformation in Eastern Europe over the last 25 years. The article compares oligarchic rule in the successor states of multinational federations that disintegrated after 1989 - i.e. the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. From a comparative perspective, it analyses the emergence of domestic oligarchic groups, the (sub-)sectors of their economic activities and their relationship to the semi-peripheral states (in particular their relationship with political parties as a key transmission belt into state decision-making centres)." (author's abstract)

The article analyses the space for development alternatives in three successor states of Yugoslavia – Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Potential space of development alternatives have been opened by the present crisis. The article starts with a comparative analysis of the precrisis development models and their crises. The political responses to the crises have been shaped by socio-economic structures, the mode of articulation of these economies into the international economy and the constellation of political actors. The article analyses the anticrisis policies of the three governments, social protest movements, and their proposals for alternative economic policies and development alternatives from a comparative perspective. ; Publisher's Version

The article critically comments some of the conclusions by Alex Demirovi? and Thomas Sablowski in their article on the crisis in PROKLA No. 166. These two authors emphasise that it should be an aim of the left "to create the unity of the subaltern classes in Europe through joint struggles". According to the critical comment, these two authors underestimate the degree of uneven development which results in uneven patterns of mobilisation across the European continent. In Greece, the left wing alliance Syriza came close to government power. Syriza faces with renewed urgency the question whether to continue Greece's euro zone membership. The alliance is split on the issue. The majority of the alliance has come out in favour of staying in the euro zone. The article argues that economic recovery and the development of alternative economic policies in Greece are hardly compatible with a continued euro zone membership of the peripheral euro zone countries.