Disintegration Of Yugoslavia Research Articles

Fridrih Engels, južnoslovenstvo, demokratski panslavizam ili kontrarevolucija

The emergence, disintegration and disappearance of Yugoslavia, the structural and historical consequences, make Engels' combination of theoretical-analytical perspicacity and publicist form in the critique of Pan-Slavism, democracy and the counterrevolution of the South Slavs (especially Austrian) during the European "Spring" (1948) current again. Their millennial tradition of denationalization, subjugation and mutual hatred and conflict is understood as an obstacle to the creation of a free and independent common state, which is expressed as a sentimental phrase and fantasy of people's betrayal, threatened even by destruction in one world war. But this did not prevent Friedrich Engels, examining the historical material, describing the facts of his time and understanding the history of society as history of class struggle, to propose the necessary, simple and final solution of the Eastern issue, the creation of a free independent Christian Slavic state on the ruins of Islamic (Ottoman) Empire, with the special role of England, which must not allow the entry of Russia into the Balkans and the conquest of Constantinople. This was an anticipation of Yugoslavia, exactly 65 years before its foundation with the final destruction of the Turkish Empire. Engels did not predict the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This does not diminish the significance of his analyses. The disintegration of Yugoslavia, in spite of the Western bias and anti-Russian orientation, gives them even more momentum, relevance and lucidity. The Western powers, Russia and Turkey, as in the time of Engels, continue to fight for dominance in the Balkans. The Balkan peoples, set against each other, live in some kind of confusion of undefined sovereignty and protectorate.

Temelji srpske geopolitičke škole

Practical geopolitics has long since existed in Serbian tradition; however, it has not developed enough in the scientific sense. The true beginnings of Serbian geopolitical thought can be found in the anthropogeographical works of Jovan Cvijić during the first decades of the 20th century, and his engagement in the formation of the South Slavic state. Afterwards, there is a long discontinuity, especially noticeable after the Second World War due to the Nazi misuse of geopolitics. The renaissance and the true development of Serbian geopolitics happens because of existential national causes - when the Serb issue is opened again, during the disintegration of Yugoslavia and in unfavorable international circumstances. Since then, four generations of geopolitical experts have matured, in whose research there is a specific common scientific approach, and one can conclude that an authentic Serbian geopolitical school is emerging. Its basic characteristics are that it is possibilistic, telurocratic, integralist, regionalist (Balkanic), and multidisciplinary, and that it has established its own terminology, alongside the universal one. Further progress of the Serbian geopolitical school will depend on the respect it garners in political-diplomatic practice, its position in the educational-scientific system, on adequate media promotions and successful suppression of trivialisation.

Jugoslaviens undergång. Krigen, freden, framtiden 1991–2017

Abstract: Yugoslavia's Downfall. The War, the Peace, the Future 1991–2017Svein Mønnesland reviews Yugoslavia's Downfall. The War, the Peace, the Future 1991–2017 by Sanimir Resic. The book explores the turbulent period from the dissolution of Yugoslavia until today in the seven successor states.

Memory abuse, violence and the dissolution of Yugoslavia: a theoretical framework for understanding memory in conflict

This paper explores the term “memory abuse” as an analytical framework to understanding politically constructed mnemonic tensions in the years preceding Yugoslavia's violent dissolution. Here, “memory abuse” represents an intersection between the literatures of memory and conflict studies and refers to the intentional manipulation of memory beyond an intangible threshold, past which violence inevitably results. Drawing on the typologies of collective and cultural memory by Aleida and Jan Assmann, I argue that the political mobilisation of both distant and recent memories in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s to a significant degree contributed to the outbreak of war in the early 1990s, and contemporary political actors have perpetuated an abuse of memory that has limited reconciliatory outcomes in the region since the end of conflict. In reformulating the memories of, inter alia, the 1389 Battle of Kosovo and the atrocities of the Second World War to fit nationalist narratives, political actors across Yugoslavia's republics sought to profit from forced divisions that ultimately brought about the country's end.

Polityka Turcji wobec Bałkanów Zachodnich po 2008 roku

With the disintegration of Yugoslavia, all the balances in the Balkans were altered and the instability that arose from this process reached a level that threatened international peace. The historical ties between the peoples of Turkey and countries of the region have extended until today. There are Turkish minorities and communities as well as kin communities in the Balkan countries on the one hand; whereas there are citizens of Balkan‑origin in Turkey on the other. Turkey aims to initiate a psychological breakthrough in the Balkans to undo the negative memories of the past. At the regional level, Turkey follows three different sets of policies. The first is to develop bilateral relations to the possible highest extent. The second track is the creation of trilateral mechanisms, such as between Turkey, Serbia, and Bosnia; and Turkey, Croatia, and Bosnia‑Herzegovina. The third track aims to achieve region‑wide cooperation efforts and foster economic interdependence to secure the future of the political relations.

Journalism in Croatia in the Southeast European context: deterioration of the ‘professional project’

In this article, journalism is analysed within the theoretical framework of sociology of the professions. It focuses on four ‘internal attributes’ linked to the ‘professional project’ and the external relation to the profession of agents involved in the professionalisation process. Based on an analysis of the internal attributes and external agents and using the results of quantitative and qualitative studies on Croatian journalism, the article attempts to analyse these dimensions in a diachronic perspective, with the aim of understanding the current status of the journalist profession in Croatia, and the social, political and economic structures that shape it. It looks at the specificities of the region and the structural changes that occurred in the journalistic field with the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the introduction of a liberal market economy and draws on a survey and focus groups as well as an extensive review of the literature. The conclusion is that the ‘professional project’ of journalism is undergoing a process of gradual decay.

Orthodox Christianity and identity: Studies of monastery St. Prohor Pcinjski

The paper investigates the relationship between the state, society and Serbian Orthodox Church in 19th and 20th century, considered from the standpoint of national identity, as a basic principle of contemporary cultural policies. The aim of the paper is to identify similarities and differences in three intersecting points in time in the relationship between state and church, as well as look at possibilities and obstacles for their cooperation in the context of democratic transition and consolidation of society in Serbia, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The theoretical exploration starts from the position that Orthodox Christianity, as it is ?dependent on the state and concept of national church?, is a source of nationalism and obstacle to democracy, based on which a number of intellectuals and civil organizations in Serbia are against acceptance of Orthodox Christianity as an identifier of national identity of post-totalitarian society in Serbia. Qualitative empirical research that investigated the starting theoretical assumptions is based on the case study of Pcinja county in the South East of Serbia, which is a religious, cultural and political centre of this part of Serbia, with monastery Saint Prohor Pcinjski located in its centre. The results of research demonstrated that repressive political factors supressed Orthodox Christianity from the public life, thus there is no empirical evidence of ?Orthodox nationalism?, and instead we can observe that throughout 20th century the church was a victim of ideologies of Yugoslavia, Communist atheism and ethnical nationalisms of the newly established countries in the region. In Serbia, this type of relationship towards Orthodox Christianity moved from former party state that dominated the society into a section of civil society, whose political activities tend to overtake the role of former Communist party. This part of civil society, as it is burdened with totalitarian heritage itself, bases its political attitudes on the empirically unfounded theoretical speculations, which is why, despite its efforts, it represents a challenge to the democratization of inherited post-totalitari an cultural system and an obstacle for Serbian Orthodox Christian community to realize its democratic right to free expression of values and ideas in which it believes.

Storia della cultura e della letteratura serba by Bojan Mitrović and Marija Mitrović

Reviewed by: Storia della cultura e della letteratura serba by Bojan Mitrović and Marija Mitrović Radmila Gorup Bojan Mitrović and Marija Mitrović. Storia della cultura e della letteratura serba. Lecce, Italy: Argo, 2015. pp. 248, with five appendices. ISBN: 978-8-88234-133-6. Storia della cultura e della letteratura serba (History of Serbian Culture and Literature) is written by a son and mother team, Bojan Mitrović and Marija Mitrović. He holds a Ph.D in history, and she is a professor of literatures and cultures of the successor states of former Yugoslavia at the University of Trieste, Italy. The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia contributed to the publication of this book. The two authors divided the task commensurate with their expertise. All historical topics (sections) were written by Dr. B. Mitrović, while most cultural and all literary units were contributed by Professor M. Mitrović. The volume is divided into six chapters: "Middle Ages," "Serbs Under the Ottomans," "From Baroque to Enlightenment," "Nineteenth Century," "Twentieth Century," and "The Dissolution of Yugoslavia." Chapters are further divided into subchapters and smaller units. Each chapter begins with the historical background and the cultural climate of the period, something that teachers of literature and culture can find useful. They can assign these sections as readings to their classes and not spend class time on them. The historical backdrop is followed by discussions of major literary trends and their representatives. Texts on individual writers contain a short biography, their most important works, and a brief critical evaluation. Information on art and, in later chapters, on theater and cinema, is introduced at the end. All of the sections are informative and quite detailed for a book of its size. They reveal the authors' deep knowledge of Serbia and its culture. The chapters become progressively longer as we approach modern times. The shortest chapter is "The Serbs Under the Ottomans," consisting of only four pages. That is understandable given that during the Ottoman occupation cultural life was affected. It was reduced to copying of religious texts of the high Middle Ages. By contrast, the oral literature flourished during the Ottoman period. [End Page 171] The last chapter, on the dissolution of the common state of Yugoslavia, dwells on the causes of the country's downfall and its effects on the development of arts and literature in Serbia. While the causes of the dissolution of the federal state are many and are interpreted differently by different parties, they mostly agree on the outcome. The dismembering of Yugoslavia resulted in cultural impoverishment and parochialism, not only in Serbia but in all the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. What comes as a pleasant surprise is that the authors trace the emergence of feminine voices in Serbian literature and culture, starting with Jelena Balšić and the nun Jefimija of the Middle Ages to the first important modern female authors, Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945) and Isidora Sekulić (1877–1958). An informative section on the increase in feminist writing and feminist studies in the post-Yugoslav period is presented in the last chapter. The rich oral literature, which is usually given a separate chapter in books of similar types, is given a brief treatment in this volume, and is included in the chapter on romanticism. Texts on individual writers are uneven, reflecting the authors' inclinations. For example, eight times more space is dedicated to the modernist Bora Stanković (1875–1927) than to the world renowned postmodernist Milorad Pavić (1928–2009). The last chapter provides information on Serbian writers who during the 1990s and later wrote in exile, such as Aleksandar Tišma, David Albahari, Bora Ćosić, Vladimir Pištalo, and others, but also about writers of "double belonging," a new phenomenon, who live abroad and write in languages other than Serbian, such as Nataša Radojičić Kane (1966), Téa Obreht (1985), Vladimir Tasić (1965), Vesna Goldsworthy (1961), and others. History of Serbian Culture and Literature has five appendices. In addition to geographical maps, chronology of historical events, index of names, and bibliography, this book also has a bibliography of Serbian literary works which have been translated into Italian. This information is very useful, yet not always...

In Search of Catharsis. Theatre in Serbia in the 1990s

Abstract This paper discusses various points about the response of the Serbian theatre to the social crisis of the 1990s. The focus here is on publicly-funded theatres and their role in pacifying or mobilizing theatre audiences either to participate in or revolt against the political projects which accompanied the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The Serbian theatre system in the 1990s entered a clear process of transformation of its models of management, production, financing, public relations and, naturally, the language and forms of expression inherited from the socialist 1980s. The chief interest of this study is the transformation of the theatre system since the end of World War II, theatrical interpretations of the historical and literary past in Serbia, the role of theatre in the identity ‘makeovers’ that followed the demise of Yugoslavia, and stage interpretations of contemporary crises. Consideration is also given to the present state of the theatre in Serbia.

Perceptions of authority and freedom in late Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav film

ABSTRACTThe article examines the notions of authority and freedom in the cinematic spaces of the former Yugoslavia and its successor states from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. The relevant time span saw not only the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the socialist system, but also the rise and fall of political leaders of various orientations. It was often in relation to this sphere of authority that freedom was negotiated in the artistic public space, resulting in projects whose principal function was to question the very authority they depicted. At the same time these films exposed the fragile societal architecture that signalled the need for a different type of political discourse in the 1980s. The 1990s brought forth films that further examined the putative pillars of the now collapsed state, employing humour as one of the principal strategies to reveal the repetitiveness and paradoxes of the historical/political developments. The films analysed include Rajko Grlić's Samo jednom se ljubi/You Love Only Once (1981); Emir Kusturica's Otac na službenom putu/When Father Was Away on Business (1985); Goran Marković's Tito i ja/Tito and Me (1992) and Vinko Brešan's Maršal/Marshal (1999).

유고슬라비아의 해체와 신 민족 소수자 집단의 출현 : 슬로베니아 코페르를 중심으로

유고슬라비아의 해체와 신 민족 소수자 집단의 출현 : 슬로베니아 코페르를 중심으로

The Kin-state Policies of Hungary, Romania, and Serbia in 2015: An Increasingly Centred Approach on Extraterritorial Citizenship

This article compares the kin-state policies of three countries: Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. It analyses the evolution of their legislation on kin-minorities focusing on the changes introduced in 2015. Even though the historical contexts greatly differ, all three countries became kin-states as a consequence of border changes: Hungary after the First World War, Romania after the Second World War, and Serbia following the disintegration of Yugoslavia. I show here that in spite of the normative prominence of the Act LXII of 2001 on Hungarians Living in Neighbouring Countries in Europe, recent changes in the legislation of the three countries indicate that facilitated access to extraterritorial citizenship rather than identity recognition and support for culture has come to define the nature of their current kin-state policies.

The Influence of Heidegger’s Thought on the Development of Philosophy in Ex-Yugoslav Countries

The purpose of the article is to present the outlines of the reception and the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy on the territory of former Yugoslavia. This reception and influence were in their essence co-conditioned by specific political, social and cultural circumstances in the region, which were throughout accompanied by “the syndrome of dehumanization”. The confrontation with Heidegger’s philosophy is therefore co-defined by the profoundly experienced crisis of European humanity. During both world wars the attempt of an overcoming of this crisis of humanity by the means of phenomenological and existentialist philosophy was the main focus of attention. The period after the Second World War is denoted by the linking of Marxism with Heidegger’s attempt to surpass philosophy as metaphysics through the perspective of the history of being; in this context we specifically discuss the Praxis philosophical school and the original philosophical thought of Vanja Sutlic. During the disintegration of Yugoslavia and in the period thereafter, besides the intensive appropriation of Heidegger’s thought through translations and interpretations, which also led to the thorough study of Slavic philosophical terminologies, post-Heideggerian ways of thinking came to the fore, together with the possibility for a new humanization within the wider European and global social framework.

Is Serbian becoming Croatian?

The paper investigates how nationalism (which flourished since the disintegration of Yugoslavia) and Serbo-Croatian language unity is instrumentalised to block the debates on sexist language in Serbia. Serbian feminists criticise current language practices as being sexist by making women linguistically invisible or rather exclusively visible in stereotypical contexts with only little social prestige. They challenge the supposedly gender-neutrality of so called ‘masculine generics’ and demand a consistent use of gender-specific forms for females. On the contrary, traditional Serbian linguists deny any discriminatory language patterns claiming that nouns for males can be used for females as well because of the ‘nature’ or ‘spirit’ of the Serbian language. Beside those arguments known from similar debates which have been held for other languages, the Serbian anti-feminist discourses on gender and language are even specific: Several gender-specific female nouns are found not to be Serbian but Croatian and should therefore not be used in Serbia. The proposals of feminists for non-sexist language are even accused of endangering Serbian national integrity by turning the Serbian language into Croatian – ignoring the fact that Serbian and Croatian share most of their lexicon being successor languages of Serbo-Croatian.

ECONOMIC CRISIS AND CURRENT PROBLEMS OF SERBIAN FAMILY

Modern society and the world economy are highly contradicted to existing processes and relationships. It could be discerned in large social inequalities, in unfair and unequal opportunities of socio-economic development and in severe conflicts of different contrasting groups and interests. The problem of economic growth, especially of the smaller countries in development, is radicalized by unequal distribution of natural resources, economic and political power. At the moment In Serbia the crisis is visible in almost every sector of society. Unemployment is rising, just like crime rate, corruption and various forms of social pathology. The growing rate of violence and different forms of family abuse are spreading the sense of hopelessness. Not only did the education become more expensive but also the employment availability and social success became inversely proportional to the acquired knowledge. Every year the birth rate declines. All of these affect the young, who become discontent. Being unable to identify themselves with their own country they start to accept the situation with resignation and social apathy. The number of those who leave Serbia is increasing. The roots of very bad economic situation in Serbia are planted in the inherited systemic problems which arose after the disintegration of Yugoslavia and its markets, sanctions and aggression and destruction of economy and infrastructure by NATO, but mostly and primarily is rooted in the acceptance and implementation of arguably detrimental doctrine shaped by the concept of neo-liberal model of economic policy. In this research paper, the authors, in order to minimize potential developmental risk and to maximize the biological survival of Serbian population in future, state that neoliberal globalization begins with destruction of the family and ends with the destruction of the country itself. This hypothesis is confirmed by the current demographic and development trends in Serbia.

The International Humanitarian Response to the Refugee Crisis Along the Balkan Route in the View of Strategies of International Organizations

Abstract Being one of the largest movements of displaced people through European borders since World War Two, the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015 and 2016, tested the coordination of the states and international organizations, and as well as the strategies for response of the latter to such enormous fluxes of displaced people along the Balkan corridor. The quick on-time reaction of the specialized humanitarian international organizations made significant achievements by the international organizations in terms of humanitarian assistance for the refugees and support for the governments of the region. Their approach mainly sought to create a partnership with the governments of the Balkan route in handling the serious humanitarian challenges (with a different strategy compared to other experiences, mainly this time through providing assistance and protection to the refugees throughout the corridor of the refugee crisis), it showed how important is such coordination at the end, with an aim to avoid further human catastrophes along refugee routes, and to avoid major security repercussions for the countries of the region. With a comparative approach, the paper analyzes the response of the international organizations in terms of the strategies they have applied along the Balkan human corridor and their new innovative approaches used in terms of the coordination with the local authorities and governments of the Balkan route. Different to previous forms of humanitarian interventions and dynamics of the refugee crisis (dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1990s), the roles of the international organizations along the Balkan human corridor following the Syrian war of 2015 and 2016 have shaped many innovative dimensions, including firstly their advising orientation and support for refugees and local authorities (mainly through providing help on legal issues). Apart from humanitarian activities for delivering direct aid, the major intergovernmental organizations (most of them operating under the umbrella of the UN) following the implementation of border controls from very beginning of the refugee crisis have been focused in supporting the local authorities as well as on regulating the flow of migrants. The strategies of response by the international organizations in the latest case of the Balkan human corridor notably shifted from the classical humanitarian dimension of their reactions. These strategies have played as well an important role in advising, and especially in developing a partnership with the local authorities capacity building and legal support for both local institutions and refugees. However, through the comparative approaches the paper identifies that there are different models of management roles played by the specialized international organizations in various countries of the Balkan route and its frontiers.

International Intervention and Genocide in Bosnia

The United Nations intervention in the Bosnian conflict was generally considered a positive development that could bring an end to the instabilty in the Balkans after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The UN was forced to intervene following the outbreak of violence in Bosnia after the referendum for its independence, a move that came to strongly resisted resisted by the Serbs. The UN togather with NATO collaborated on the Bosnian operations with aim of protecting the population as well as bringing stability. Arms embargo was imposed the UN, and safe areas were created, and among them them was Srebrenica. The UN declared such areas safe and free from attack when in reality it did not put in place in effective force in these areas to repel or counter attacks from any group. The result was the massacre of about 8,000 Bosnian before the UN peace keeping force by the Bosnian Serbs. The intervention in Bosnia as result raised many questions regarding UN policies and role, to the extent that it is argued if the intervention was actually carried out in accordance with the established humanitarian intervention ethics and the responsibility to protect. Why did the UN declare certain areas safe when it fully aware that it lacked the ability to protect the population of the areas from attacks? Rather than protect, The UN intervene in Bosnia appeared to have created an opportunity for mass murder or what came to be known as the Bosnian genocide. This paper argues that the intervention in Bosnia fell short of complying with the principles and ethic of humanitarian interventions as will be shown in the article.

South East Europe Hub and Spoke Air Network Reconfiguration

The paper presents the passenger and cargo historical traffic data analysis at the Zagreb Airport, at certain airports in the wider region and globally for a period of half a century. The war during 1990s and the disintegration of Yugoslavia had as a consequence the breakdown of air transport based on hub and spoke system with three airports as a hub: Zagreb, Belgrade and Ljubljana. During and after the war, the domestic airliner in the region and a foreign airliner implemented primarily point-to-point system. Hub airports have become origin-destination airports with mainly local passengers and insignificant ratio of transfer and transit passengers. The causes of slow passenger and cargo traffic growth at the Zagreb Airport and of passengers at certain airports in the narrow region have been analysed and the results are lower growth of air traffic at capital airports of the new countries and greater air traffic growth on the capital airports and others in the countries of a wide region comparing with the global passenger transport growth. The paper indicates the possible measures to increase the share of transfer passengers and cargo traffic at the Zagreb Airport and certain airports in the immediate region.

Holocaust Research in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. An Inventory

AbstractThe Holocaust and other mass killings committed during the Second World War in the Yugoslav territories play a more significant role in current public debates than they do in education and research. 85% of Yugoslavia’s Jews were annihilated in the period between 1941 and 1945. In socialist Yugoslavia, it was Holocaust survivors in particular who collected materials that documented the execution of exterminist policies. How has the examination of the Holocaust changed since the dissolution of Yugoslavia; and how have the newly established states of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Serbia coped with this part of their history? The author asks whether an exclusive exploration of Jewish suffering is possible—or even desirable—in today’s post-Yugoslav societies. She gives an overview of the evolution of a specific ‘Yugoslav’ approach to the history of the Holocaust, and depicts recent Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian efforts in this field. Furthermore, she looks at what kind of attention the Holocaust in Yugoslavia has received in international Holocaust Studies.

Religious Freedom and Diversity in a Comparative European Perspective

The Balkan states are relatively young nation-states that achieved independence through a succession of bloody wars, either civil (the dissolution of Yugoslavia after the fall of Communism), regional (the Balkan wars at the turn of the nineteenth-twentieth century) and/or global (the end of the two world wars). All of them now claim, or aspire, to be modern, democratic and secular states, and are on their way to integration with their more ‘mature’ Western European counterparts. The debate over progress of democratization and their capacities to integrate into the EU has brought to the fore issues of political ‘maturity’ in terms of good governance, and the protection of minorities and other human rights. The harsh and sometimes bloody legacy of nation- and state-formation, amidst plural ethno-religious divisions, seemed to be an impediment to achieving the status of democratic states. Religious and ethnic tensions were seen as particularly worrying. Specifically, these states had to face simultaneously at least two major constraints: on the one hand, guaranteeing religious freedom and equal treatment for all citizens; on the other hand, holding on to the religion of the nation, which had kept the nation intact when the state disappeared. After 1990, the challenge then was to set up new institutional compromises and suitable balances that could combine (1) religious freedom, (2) state neutrality and (3) the majoritarian or ‘traditional’ basis of nationhood.