Late transition in Serbia and (im)possibility to 'enlighten' the Serbian elites

Abstract

The paper presents results of the latest authors' research on elitization criminalization and late transition of Serbian society. Those issues are considered to be the most important obstacle for modernization and for internal and external integration of Serbian society, in other words, they are treated as a key element of Serbia's isolation and its non-adjustment and conflicts with the rest of the world, as well as with itself. In that context, special attention is given to the definition of Serbian society's disintegrative characteristics, and also to recognizing its integrative potentials. Such orientation set the two directions of the research: on one hand, authors tried to define substantial elements of Serbian elites and to determine their crucial role and biggest responsibility in the processes of(dis)integration of Serbian society in the time of late and accelerated transition; and, on the other hand, authors tried to identify conditions under which the elites could become interested in democratization and stabilization of the society, as well as in the institutionalization of 'socially contrived market' (Mancur Olson), which can certainly be considered as the best and most lasting basis of regional association and in?clusion in the so called, 'wider European integrations'. SA U radu su predoceni nalazi najnovijih istrazivanja autora, koji su posveceni problemu elitizacije, kriminalizacije i zakasnele tranzicije srpskog drustva.1 Ti problemi se smatraju jednom od najvaznijih prepreka njegove modernizacije i unutrasnje i spoljasnje integracije, odnosno tretiraju se kao kljucni cinilac izolacije Srbije i njenih ne-prilagodjenosti i sukobljavanja, kako sa svetom, tako i sa samom sobom. U tom kontekstu posebna paznja posvecuje se preciziranju dezintegrativnih obelezja srpskog drustva, kao i prepoznavanju njegovih integrativnih potencijala. Takva orijentacija usmerila je istrazivanje u dva pravca: s jed-ne strane, autori nastoje da definisu sustinska obelezja srpskih elita i da odrede njihovu presudnu ulogu i najvecu odgovornost u procesima (dez)integracije srpskog drustva u doba zakasnele i ubrzane tranzicije; a, s druge strane, pokusavaju da identifikuju uslove pod kojima bi te elite same mogle postati zainteresovane za demokratizaciju i stabilizaciju drustva, kao i za institucionalizaciju 'drustveno ugovorenog trzista' (Mankur Olson), sto se svakako moze smatrati najboljom i najtrajnijom osnovom regionalnog povezivanja i ukljucivanja u tzv. sire evropske integracije.