Karadžić’s period of rage came to an abrupt end following the conclusion of the Bosnian Parliament’s Eighth Session. With no apparent hesitation or introspection, he introduced a new strategy only hours after the session closed. In one of the most dramatic transformations of his life, Karadžić the enraged firebrand became Karadžić the visionary architect and systematic planner. His new path led him, with still more twists and turns, to the war and mass atrocities that would make him infamous.

A New Course

Karadžić implemented a new strategy for the Bosnian Serb nationalists consisting of two tracks: publicly creating the infrastructure of a separate Bosnian Serb state, and privately implementing a municipal strategy for a Serb nationalist armed takeover. Each component depended on the success of the other. The new institutions of state were to authorize, oversee, and legitimize the municipal strategy, while municipal-level authorities were to seize control of territories to be governed by the new institutions. Until mid-December 1991, the two tracks were intertwined. Then, on December 19, Karadžić issued a set of detailed instructions to municipal SDS leaders to seize power locally and thereby pursue separately the municipal strategy and public activities of statemaking.