Narrating democracy in interwar Yugoslavia: From state creation to its collapse

Abstract

This article examines the narratives of democracy in interwar Yugoslavia. It starts with the premise that the commitment to democracy in the immediate post-war period was deep and sincere as it was seen as an answer to domestic and international political challenges. The article focuses on how democracy was understood and narrated, and maintains that virtually every political actor engaged with the idea and/or practice of democracy, thereby making it a subject of an important debate. Thus, democracy was at the time as significant a concept and theme as was nationalism, which usually receives more attention in historical analysis. Such issues as national self-determination, the establishment of the state, and the symbolic place of Yugoslavia among well-established European nations impacted the way democracy was debated. At the same time, local political actors used claims to possess better expertise in democracy to back up specific ideological and national projects. Finally, socio-economic issues emerged in the later half of the period to complement the national considerations. A significant difference in the narratives of democracy as understood primarily in political terms and the narrative of democracy that emphasizes its social and economic dimension emerged towards the late 1930s.