Workers' Self-Management in the World System: The Yugoslav Case

Abstract

This paper attempts to show that whilst the concept of self management was reasonable in the light of Yugoslavia's break from the Soviet bloc, its practice has proved problematic. It is argued that there are two inter-related reasons for this. First, self-management becomes largely a myth in a country which is interdependent with a dominantly capitalist worldwide market system and, second, it becomes difficult to sustain self-management in the light of factions and pressure groups which consistently put their own interests above those of the nation. Theoretically, the paper attempts to transcend the nation state as the primary level of analysis. It is argued that organizational relations in one country can only be understood in terms of the inter-state system of organizational relations. Self-management is likely to be problematic in a world economy which is dominated by the advanced capitalist core powers.