Research in the Spotlight | PhD Graduate Marko Miljkovic on: “Tito's Proliferation Puzzle - The Yugoslav Nuclear Program, 1948-1970”

PhD graduate Marko Miljkovic, from CEU’s Department of History, received one of the university’s Best Dissertation Awards this year, in recognition of his thesis research, titled “Tito's Proliferation Puzzle - The Yugoslav Nuclear Program, 1948-1970”. The thesis, which he defended in November, 2021, analyzes the evolution of a nuclear program in Yugoslavia, a developing country that wanted to join the world powers angling in Cold War political strategies.  

Starting in the late 1940s, Yugoslavia had worked to master sensitive nuclear technologies, only to completely dismantle the entire nuclear program following the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 1970. In his research, Miljkovic found that security concerns were the most potent drivers fueling both the desire for nuclear weapons in Yugoslavia and their eventual renunciation. He also found that it was Yugoslavia’s commitment to independence, which kept the project rapidly evolving, representing an important characteristic of the Yugoslav state system.