War as social transformation: Wealth, class, power and an illiberal economy in Serbia

Abstract

This article analyses changes in the social structure and stratification of Serbian society in the 1990 ‘s and the development of an illiberal economy. These developments are discussed in context of three competing theoretical frameworks here called: the ‘transitional’ perspective, the ‘social breakdown’ interpretation, and the perspective of ‘social transformation’. The article argues that the two former perspectives imply assumptions of ‘transition to liberal democracy and market economy, in the first case, and the possibility of ‘reconstruction’ of shattered institutions and processes, in the second and that these assumptions need further scrutiny. The metaphor ‘social transformation’ instead emphasizes the importance of considering the ‘actually’ existing forms of political economy, survival strategies, social networks, and processes in the region without assuming linear developments of ‘reconstruction’, or ‘transition’ towards liberal‐democracy cum market economy. The ‘language’ we use to describe and identify problems, i.e. how we conceptualise, are central also to the policy‐implications they have. The development of illiberal forms of economy in the former Yugoslav space, in this case Serbia, may be considered part of a political project in itself. The ‘sources’ on parallel, often extra‐legal, economic forms of activity are very scarce and there is a huge methodological problem in how to access and analyse the character, scope and meaning of this. However, the phenomenon is too important to be avoided just due to a lack of sources, and preliminary analysis and discussion is necessary even though it has of necessity to be based on ‘soft’ sources. In this article such ‘soft’ material includes local newspaper material, informal interviews with local informants and preliminary estimations. After having discussed the economy of inflation, examples of black‐grey forms of economy, individual survival‐strategies, and changes in the stratification of Serbian society this article identifies forces within Serbian society which are supportive of what may be termed the illiberal project and those forces ranged against it. While it may be premature to base any conclusion for which forces may be in the longer‐term be sustainable, there is utility in research into both the nature of the illiberal economy, the social networks and forces benefiting from it and the level of cohesion/fragmentation amongst the opposition/resistance to it.