This work aims to explore the history of the Yugoslav idea, or "Yugoslavism", between the state's existence creation in 1918 and its dissolution in the early 1990s. The key theme that emerges is that Yugoslavism was a fluid concept, understood differently at different times by different Yugoslav nations, leaders and social groups. There was no single definition of who and what was (or was not) "Yugoslav" and this perhaps indirectly contributed to the ultimate failure of the Yugoslav idea and with it the Yugoslav state. The volume presents a specially-commissioned collection of essays which is divided into five sections: "Context"; "Nations"; "Leaders and Institutions"; "Intellectuals"; and "Alternatives".