The Literary Municipality of Cetinje was forced to close in 1988, ostensibly due to the publication of the book Etnogenezofobija that same year. Etnogenezofobija was written by Savo Brković, a prominent Communist official, who had been previously criticized for his nationalist stances. In this book, Brković again discussed the ethnic origin of the Montenegrins and openly criticized Greater Serbia nationalism, which at that time was increasingly propagated by Serbian communist leaders and intellectuals. After the publication of this book, Brković suffered severe consequences – he was expelled from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and publicly defamed for Montenegrin nationalism.

Although the closure of the Literary Municipality of Cetinje followed the publication of this book, the main cause for the regime to shut down the publishing house was the ongoing provocative activities of the founders and creators of ARS. They had long been known for their non-communist political views, which included embracing liberal political stances, discussing the Montenegrin national question, and sympathizing with famous Yugoslav dissidents. Consequently, the editorial board of ARS, then led by Milorad Popović, Mladen Lompar, and Slavko Perović, was replaced with regime-friendly staff, while Slavko Perović, the former president of the Literary Municipality of Cetinje, was accused of being “politically inappropriate” and was expelled from the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Montenegro.