Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

ated in the new Europe and postcommunist world. 96 Third World countries,
as Sadat testified in his memoirs, held Tito and nonalignment in high
regard. 97 At the home front, the Tito memory could have been a vibrant
check against the danger of ethnic nationalism. Internationally competitive
Yugoslav sports, another product of the Tito era, could have remained an
effective cohesive force of the nation and source of national pride, as is the
case in many countries worldwide. 98 Concurrently, Yugoslav sports operated
as a “safety-valve for mitigating intergroup tensions.” 99 Of course, pan-
Yugoslav nationalism, born during the Tito era, alone could not help the
country to completely succeed. Yugoslavia should have been earlier and fully
democratized. Yet was that possible?
108 balkan idols