Gordy, Eric Guilt, Responsibility, and Denial: The Past at Stake in Post-Milošević Serbia (review)

Abstract

SEER, 94, 1, JANUARY 2016 190 order to explain medium-term international relations. The geographical scope of his research is also impressive. Given that the Soviet Union had relatively limited contact with the ‘Third World’ during the early years of national liberation covered by Reconstructing the Cold War, it will be interesting to see how Hopf employs social constructivism to account for changes in this relationship amid the massive transformations in developing countries from the 1950s through to 1991 — a period he plans to cover in two subsequent volumes. Although it often seems excessively intent on deconstructing familiar aspects of Soviet history and foreign policy in the overwhelming interest of testing a model, this first instalment is certainly an ambitious undertaking. Department of History Christine Varga-Harris Illinois State University Gordy, Eric. Guilt, Responsibility, and Denial: The Past at Stake in PostMilo šević Serbia. Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2013. xv + 256 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $65.00: £42.50. Eric Gordy’s The Culture of Power in Serbia, published in 1999, was a brilliant examination of Serbian politics and society and how Slobodan Milošević, Serbian leader (under various titles) and architect of war during the 1990s ruled the country, both harnessing political culture and shaping it. This was a book of real importance — for the first time, through Gordy’s insight, how Milošević atomized the country, playing on tropes, pulling up one political figure, pushing another down was revealed. It provided a big clue to that which needed to be done for those seeking to remove this troublesome figure. In October 2000, he was ousted — and later arrested and imprisoned, and eventually transferred to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It is therefore with real anticipation that Gordy’s new book, tackling the social and cultural context of politics in Serbia since Milošević’s exit, might be approached. Guilt, Responsibility and Denial is very largely a success, proving that Gordy has a fine understanding of Serbian society and culture. However, the book has some weaknesses that might, for example, give it a rough ride in a PhD examination. The treatment of the ICTY and international law contains many mistakes, such as the assertion that, when the ex-leader-cum-war-crimessuspect was arrested in Serbia in 2001, the ICTY indictment against him rested on one incident — an alleged massacre at Račak in Kosovo. Setting aside that his arrest in Serbia was not (formally, at least) in relation to the ICTY indictment, which is only made clear in chapter three, the indictment REVIEWS 191 included the Račak incident in January 1999, but also a string of others across Kosovo, particularly after 24 March and through to the date of the original indictment (22 May 1999 — that indictment was revised to include later dates on 29 June 1999, already two months after Milošević’s arrest). Simply checking the document would have confirmed this. Ironically, given Gordy’s excellent work on Milošević’s elusive and wily rule, always untouchable — a gangster boss who left no finger prints — the key issue in the indictment was superior authority. On 24 March 1999, Belgrade declared a state of war, which, for the first time in a decade of troublemaking, put him de jure, formally, in a position of superior authority, in terms of international criminal law. This was the first time that clear grounds existed to indict him. That was why the indictment was made at that point. Milošević, having ruled and manipulated Serbia in the way Gordy revealed had, until that point, made his first serious error. In addition to these kinds of mistake, Gordy also makes no mention of several sources, or authors, which one might expect to him to have consulted, including the prolific Sabrina Ramet’s dozen-or-so works in and on the period. Attention to these weaknesses should not distort appreciation of Guilt, Responsibility and Denial and the richness of Gordy’s material and analysis when it comes to assessing Serbia itself. This is a fine...