When Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic finally backed down on February 4, agreeing to recognize the results of municipal elections he had lost in most of Serbia's major cities, including Belgrade, to the opposition coalition Zajedno ("together"), it was seen as a massive and unprecedented victory, and is indeed a potentially major victory for democracy in Serbia. (Since November 17, mass demonstrations have clogged Serbia's streets with up to 400,000 protesters.)
Yet the situation in the present Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) is now extremely fluid, with quickly shifting relations of forces including student organizations, unorganized students, political parties, trade unions and the Serbian Orthodox Church. On the other hand, there is great stability of leadership among the political parties, including …