Yugoslav science during the Cold War (1945–1960): socio-economic and ideological impacts of a geopolitical shift

Abstract

Two ideological views on science dominated the Cold War era: one of a free and apolitical science, and the other emphasizing partisanship in science, associated with the Western and Eastern Blocs, respectively. This study offers a specific perspective of important elements belonging to these scientific positions, as it reveals their entanglement with geopolitical and socio-economic processes of the (semi)peripheral Yugoslav socialist system during the Cold War period. After the Second World War, and before its break with the USSR in 1948, Yugoslavia tended to emulate Soviet ideology in all aspects of society, including science. In the period following this break, the Yugoslav socialist regime, at least initially, leaned heavily toward the Western Bloc. By comparing Yugoslav science before and after the break with the USSR, this study provides insight into the consequences of the geopolitical shift and socio-economic transition of the Yugoslav socialist system, primarily in terms of the model of scientific organization, financing, and scientific discourse. Exposed to the dynamics of decentralization and, to a larger extent than before, market forces, Yugoslav socialism after the break with the USSR adopted a specific form, namely Socialist Self-Management. Herein, I show that this led to the emergence of novel organizational and discursive tendencies in Yugoslav science, which were compatible with certain aspects of the perspective of science as ‘pure’, autonomous, and apolitical.