Introduction

After the Second World War, Yugoslavia had a particular political and economic position in the relations between the East and the West, a specific situation which stemmed from the revelant historical circumstances and only later from the actual measures taken by the Yugoslav authorities. This intermediate position had very diverse manifestations, in particular in the area of international economic co-operation.

Looking from today's perspective, two specific events have to be considered when dealing with Yugoslavia's position in the international environment. They were milestones in the country's internal political development and therefore set out the general features of Yugoslavia's integration in the European economic area. The first was the conflict with the Soviet Union and the resulting political and economic reorientation of Yugoslavia. Consequently, it was also the beginning of Yugoslavia's efforts to change the rigid centrally planned economic system, and abolish state monopoly in foreign trade, etc. The second milestone occurred in the mid-1960s, when the economic reforms led to a major liberalization of foreign trade.

In this chapter I wish to present only selected elements of the Yugoslav foreign trade system. At the end, I will outline some final conclusions about Yugoslavia's position in the European economic area from the point of view of foreign trade flows.

The consequences of the conflict with the Soviet Union

After 1945 Yugoslavia embarked on a path of radical social and economic transformation incorporated under the term ‘socialist revolution’. This inevitably led also to a changed economic position for the country internationally compared with the pre-war situation. It became a centrally planned economy with an autarchic tendency.