post-Yugoslav Space Research Articles

THE TRAUMA OF THE “ERASED” AND ITS EMPATHIC REPRESENTATION IN THE CONTEMPORARY SLOVENIAN NOVEL

: The article examines the reflection of Slovenian prose writers on the pressing problem of modern Slovenian society — the collective trauma associated with the fate of the “erased”, people with Yugoslav passports, who at the time of the declaration of sovereignty lived and worked in Slovenia and, due to political and bureaucratic reasons, were excluded from the register of its permanent residents. In 1992 the newly declared democratic state of the Republic of Slovenia deprived over 25,000 of these people of their citizenship status. The truth about this “inconvenient” episode was suppressed or falsified by the authorities and the media for years. Prose writers Polona Glavan and Dino Bauk in their debut novels Kakorkoli (No Matter How, 2014) and Konec. Znova (The End. Again, 2015), dedicated to the consequences of the collapse of the SFRY and fundamental political and sociocultural changes in the post-Yugoslav space, use the ethical potential of the literary word to convey the empathic experience. Both works are united not only by the subject — the fate of the “erased” and the attitude of indigenous Slovenians towards them — but also by the very sympathetic modality of the narrative, a mimetic way of coping with collective trauma through artistic expression. Through the artistic verbalization of empathy, the authors strive to convey the consequences of the traumatic experience both sides of the conflict went through and to destroy the stereotypes of its perception existing in the public consciousness. Drawing the attention of the readers to the current ethical discourse, they base their interpretations of the images of the “erased” on a sincere understanding of the trauma of outcasts, and resort to the chronotope of a multicultural space, which determines the views and actions of the characters.

The Pro-EU Party Consensus Dynamics in the Post-Yugoslav Space

The Pro-EU Party Consensus Dynamics in the Post-Yugoslav Space

FRG’s Strategy and Tactics on the Formation of the Post-Yugoslav Space in the 1990s

FRG’s Strategy and Tactics on the Formation of the Post-Yugoslav Space in the 1990s

Роль Евросоюза в (де)стабилизации постъюгославского пространства

Since the launch of the Stabilization and Association Process in 1999, the European Union has become the main conflict mediator on the post-Yugoslav space. The EU’s policy towards the region of the so-called Western Balkans implies the juxtaposition of integration and conflict settlement goals, which was not the case during the previous enlargement waves. Besides promoting peacebuilding initiatives through traditional foreign policy instruments, Brussels has been practicing a complicated system of incentives and sanctions related to the European integration procedures. Progress of the post-Yugoslav republics in enlargement is conditional on their willingness to implement particular requirements. The article analyzes the efficiency of the European Union’s conditionality from the perspective of regional stability. The ambivalence of such approach lies in politicization of peacebuilding agenda as the EU advances its specific image of recent civil wars in the Balkans. Using the methods of retrospective analysis of European politics, including foreign policy documents, the author substantiates the political nature of the demands made by Brussels on the parties to the conflicts. The distinct feature of the EU enlargement policy is the hierarchization of actors in foreign policy processes, which provides various countries with different negotiating power. This conditionality, due to the value contradictions within the communities, leads to the point when the applied measures of settlement lead not to the expected normalization, but to the aggravation of the situation and polarization of the parties. Thus, the author identifies the discrepancy between the declared objectives of the European Union as a mediator and the practical results. This inconsistency has prompted the decay of neighbor relations on the post-Yugoslav space as the EU member states attempted to instrumentalize their position within the Union for the ultimate solution of bilateral disputes with candidate countries, blocking the integration process in general.

Dometi meke moći Republike Srbije na postjugoslovenskom prostoru

The states created after the breakup of Yugoslavia, in modern circumstances, continue to cooperate in various socio-political areas, although their mutual relations are largely shaped by a rich history and burdened by events from the end of the 20th century, which often represent an obstacle in fulfilling the full potential of cooperation and mutual influence. Regardless of the obstacles that objectively exist, it is necessary to take into account the similarities between the people of states that emerged from Yugoslavia, which significantly affect the manifestation of soft power. The research is theoretically based on Joseph Nye's concept of soft power. In the methodological sense, the research is based on the scientific method of interview. During the research process, methods of content and discourse analysis, historical methods, as well as induction and deduction methods were used. The basic research question that the authors strive to answer is: What is the perception of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia in the post-Yugoslav area? The paper offers the answer to the question What are the basic obstacles and the most prominent potentials of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia in the post-Yugoslav space? The research results indicate that the countries of the post-Yugoslav area are to a high extent susceptible to the soft power influence of Serbia, which is facilitated by the factors of mutual historical, cultural, and linguistic interconnectedness. However, the findings of the research show that in addition to the factors of mutual connection, which facilitate the influence of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia, other factors tend to weaken the possibility of the influence of Serbia's soft power. The scope of Serbia's soft power in the post-Yugoslav countries is most visible in the sphere of culture, music, films, TV series, and contemporary literature. In addition, Serbia's potential is reflected in its capacity to initiate social, political, and cultural regional initiatives, as well as reconciliation initiatives. The results indicate that Serbia is seen as a regional factor that can influence the expansion of soft power in the post-Yugoslav sphere through economic activity. The biggest obstacles to projecting Serbia's soft power relate to the war legacy from the end of the last century, opposing narratives about controversial historical events, unresolved bilateral disputes, but also prejudices associated with the negative image of Serbia at the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Szukając niezależności

SEEKING INDEPENDENCE: DE FACTO ETHNIC AUTONOMIES IN THE POST-YUGOSLAV SPACE The violent breakup of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the early 1990s meant that the link between territorial autonomy and accommodation of groups in the post-communist world has been regarded almost uncritically as an anathema and a threat to the territorial integrity of the state. Nevertheless, territorial solutions are still taken into consideration as suggested tools for regulating ethnic and national tensions – in the post-communist area, three forms of their implementation can be identified: federalism and formally existing autonomous regions; decentralisation, which can be reduced to classical self-government with a strong ethnic component (e.g., Macedonia); and de facto ethnic autonomies based either on formal structures, as in the case of Macedonia, or informal ones, as in the cases of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having said that, the aim of this article is to compare these three de facto ethnic autonomies, i.e. structures existing outside formal territorial arrangements, that have been developed in the post-conflict and post-Yugoslav space: Serb in Kosovo, Albanian in Macedonia and Croat in Bosnia. Moreover, I also assume that their level of autonomy depends on the policies and support of kin states connected to these entities by ethno-national ties.

“Ready for the Homeland” in Croatian media: Commemorations, victory, and foundation

This article analyses the media discourse surrounding the WWII fascist salute Za dom spremni (ZDS) in the aftermath of two national commemorations that took place in Croatia in spring 2020: Jasenovac and Operation Flash (Bljesak). In spring 2020 Zoran Milanović, the newly elected President of Croatia, adamantly criticized the presence of the salute, associated with the collaborationist Ustaša regime, at the two commemorations, calling for its removal and ban. This led to heated reactions from war veterans and politicians who considered Milanović’s actions unacceptable and offensive towards the memory and legacy of the 1990s war, which triggered a wider debate regarding Croatia’s post-war national identity. The object of the analysis is the discourse surrounding the salute as it emerges in opinion pieces published in weekly and daily newspapers in April, May, and June 2020. With the salute becoming an increasingly prominent part of negotiating national identity and tailoring political agendas, investigating how it is justified, disapproved or otherwise challenged in the media is an aspect that deserves more attention. Relying on insights from discourse studies, the article sheds light on various statements that (de)legitimize the salute and consequently particular actors and actions associated with it. With the help of semiotics of culture wider signification tendencies and dominant discourse(s) upon which the national selfdescription has been built are identified. The article contributes to scholarship on hate speech and contested symbols in the post-Yugoslav space and their (mis)uses in societies struggling with traumatic legacies.

Of Love and Frustration as Post-Yugoslav Women Scholars: Learning and Unlearning the Coloniality of IR in the Context of Global North Academia

AbstractThis collective discussion brings together six women scholars of and from the post-Yugoslav space, who, using personal experiences, analyze the dynamics of knowledge production in international relations (IR), especially regarding the post-Yugoslav space. Working in Global North academia but with lived experiences in the region we study, our research is often subjected to a particular gaze, seeped in assumptions about “ulterior” motives and expectations about writing and representation. Can those expected to be objects of knowledge ever become epistemic subjects? We argue that the rendering of the post-Yugoslav space as conflict-prone and as Europe's liminal semi-periphery in the discipline of IR cannot be decoupled from the rendering of the region and those seen as related to it as unable to produce knowledge that, in mainstream discussions, is seen as valuable and “objective.” The post-Yugoslav region and those seen as related to it being simultaneously postcolonial, postsocialist, and postwar, and characterized by marginalization, complicity, and privilege in global racialized hierarchies at the same time, can make visible specific forms of multiple colonialities, potentially creating space for anti- and/or decolonial alternatives. We further make the case for embracing a radical reflexivity that is active, collaborative, and rooted in feminist epistemologies and political commitments.

Europeans from the Start? Slovenia and Croatia Between State-building, National Identity and the European Union

ABSTRACT The article draws on Hansen and Wæver’s three-layered framework of state-nation-Europe, and applies it to Slovenia and Croatia. The aim is to examine how nation- and state-building affect these countries’ Europeanization before and after EU accession. The novelty of the contribution is the specific attention paid to the post-Yugoslav space as a reference for nation- and state-building. Our findings underline that the Slovenian and Croatian state-nation concept and its relationship to Europe are not per se fixed frames, but are fluid attitudes, prone to change and reaffirmation. We also establish a comparative difference between the domestic and the Europe layer for the two states.

Corpus compilation for digital humanities in lower– resourced languages: A practical look at compiling thematic digital media corpora in Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian

The digital era has unlocked unprecedented possibilities of compiling corpora of social discourse, which has brought corpus linguistic methods into closer interaction with other methods of discourse analysis and the humanities. Even when not using any specific techniques of corpus linguistics, drawing on some sort of corpus is increasingly resorted to for empirically–grounded social–scientific analysis (sometimes dubbed ‘corpus–assisted discourse analysis’ or ‘corpus–based critical discourse analysis’, cf. Hardt–Mautner 1995; Baker 2016). In the post–Yugoslav space, recent corpus developments have brought table–turning advantages in many areas of discourse research, along with an ongoing proliferation of corpora and tools. Still, for linguists and discourse analysts who embark on collecting specialized corpora for their own research purposes, many questions persist – partly due to the fast–changing background of these issues, but also due to the fact that there is still a gap in the corpus method, and in guidelines for corpus compilation, when applied beyond the anglophone contexts. In this paper we aim to discuss some possible solutions to these difficulties, by presenting one step–by–step account of a corpus building procedure specifically for Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian, through an example of compiling a thematic corpus from digital media sources (news articles and reader comments). Following an overview of corpus types, uses and advantages in social sciences and digital humanities, we present the corpus compilation possibilities in the South Slavic language contexts, including data scraping options, permissions and ethical issues, the factors that facilitate or complicate automated collection, and corpus annotation and processing possibilities. The study shows expanding possibilities for work with the given languages, but also some persistently grey areas where researchers need to make decisions based on research expectations. Overall, the paper aims to recapitulate our own corpus compilation experience in the wider context of South–Slavic corpus linguistics and corpus linguistic approaches in the humanities more generally

TRANS ARTIVIZAM NA POSTJUGOSLOVENSKOM PROSTORU

This text explores the field of trans artivism in the post-Yugoslav space as a platform of social and political intervention. Trans artivism is approached as a form of political art, but also of social action with a potential to enable and support social and political mechanisms of change. In other words, trans artivism is a hybrid modality of artistic and activist work enacted as a strategy of resistance to transphobia. In the post-Yugoslav space, trans artivism often appears as the most potent mode of social intervention left for the trans community. I explore both artistic practices made by trans artists and trans-related art which uses trans-related elements and approaches. The analysed examples are illustrative of the attitude that the social majority has towards gender minorities as well as of the attitudes that the trans individuals themselves have towards their own bodies, identities, and the wider trans community. Keywords: artivism, transgender, community organizing, post-Yugoslav space, trans community

TRANS FEMINISTIČKE KOALICIJE NA POSTJUGOSLOVENSKOM PROSTORU: KA FEMINISTIČKOJ RADIKALNOJ SOLIDARNOSTI

The conflict between trans-inclusive and trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) has recently erupted in the post-Yugoslav space, adding to the urgency of embracing trans-feminism. In order to forge the ground for such feminist orientation, this paper interweaves two theoretical reflections: the subject of feminism, and the historical lesbian experience of becoming ‘included’ with/in it. Beginning with the idea that, similarly to trans, it also took time and effort for lesbianity (see discussion on this concept in the article) to be recognised as a ‘legitimate’ subject of feminist emancipation, I extend Wittig’s negation of lesbian womanhood to trans women. With this in mind, I argue that feminist radical solidarity requires an open-ended, liminal conception of gender. I then draw upon nine interviews with seven cis-gender, one non-binary, and one genderqueer lesbian activist from the post-Yugoslav space to explore the ways in which they endeavoured to bring about feminist radical solidarity in their activist engagement. I conclude that solidarity, rather than normative inclusion that we, lesbians, fought for as feminists, should eventually be put at the service of trans-feminism. In this manner, trans-feminism can become an integral part of women studies, trans women can be recognised as subjects of feminism, and trans persons embraced as our political and personal allies. Keywords: feminism, lesbian activism, solidarity, TERF, post-Yugoslav space

(S)he Walks: Gendered Audiences, Memory and Representation in Post-Yugoslav Space

Based on ethnographic studies carried out during commemorations in Vukovar‎ and Srebrenica, this paper analyses gendered representations of said mnemonic‎ events. Specific practices that incorporate both military and civilian ‎components, as well as discourse on heroism and victimhood, lay at the focus ‎of this research: the Column of Remembrance in Vukovar and the Nezuk to ‎Potočari Peace March.‎ Following the theoretical findings on the nexus between memory and gender,‎ the main actors and their agency are studied from the gender perspective.‎ The symbolic capital of the two sites of memory and transformations of memorial‎ practices impact the representation of gender on both state and grassroots‎ levels and give an insight into the questions this paper asks:‎ Why are women present in such large numbers in both Vukovar and in‎ Srebrenica? How is gender represented in the course of these commemorations?‎What are the political implications of such choices? What kind of strategies‎ are used in official and grassroots initiatives? Finally, how is it connected‎ to gender?‎

How Can “Overall Progress and Development” Fail in Post-Conflict Societies? Securitization of the 2005–07 Stabilization and Association Agreement Negotiations in Republika Srpska

AbstractIn this article, we analyze how the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which signalizes the overall (positive) progress and development of the potential candidate country of the post-Yugoslav space, is not straightforwardly translated as a benchmark for progress and development by the political elite. Drawing on securitization theory in order to understand the grammar of security, the wider discursive context, and the position of power and authority in RS during the analyzed period – and informed by the triangulation of content and discourse analysis – we show how the negotiations for the SAA were (mis)used in order to present both the “internal and external Other” as an existential threat for Republika Srpska. Our analysis shows that although the securitizing acts of the political elite from RS did not succeed in terms of the final outcome as the SAA was signed, certain security narratives, which are present in the contemporary sociopolitical landscape in BiH, have been constructed during this period and embedded into the wider discursive context and consolidated the position of power and authority of Milorad Dodik’s SNSD.

Depopulation and Electoral Process

Depopulation caused by emigration and negative natural growth is a feature of all societies and states in the post-Yugoslav space. Migration, as one of the causes of depopulation, results in problems in the fundamental issues of building a democratic society and state. The implications of depopulation are multiple on political processes, and important effects are visible in the elections in these societies. The subjects of analysis in this paper are different approaches to regulating the voting rights of emigrants in electoral processes in the political systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. These countries are the best examples of three different models of regulation of electoral processes, and they are good examples of mechanisms and shortcomings for exercising the right of emigrants to vote. In this regard, the first open question is the number of eligible voters and the effective number of voters in these countries. In these three countries, we encounter out-of-date and insufficiently accurate voter lists, which are the product of poor administration and the constant change in the number of inhabitants, which is insufficiently monitored. Another important issue that we analyze is the voting right of emigrants, where we come across different models and (in) possibilities to use the right to vote. Through the analysis, we show different solutions and their implications on the election process. The analysis of different approaches in the regulation of the right to vote of emigrants shows a number of dilemmas in the basic exercise of the right to vote, and often discriminatory treatment of voters outside the country. The third level of analysis is the analysis of the overall participation of emigrants and their participation in political and electoral processes through electoral cycles that show trends in this area.

“War Trauma” and the Politics of PTSD during and after the Wars of Yugoslav Succession

AbstractThis article explores how the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder was developed and debated during the wars of Yugoslav succession 1991–1995. It focuses on the rich, wide-ranging, and complex psychiatric and psychotherapeutic discussions of war trauma in the post-Yugoslav space, arguing that arguments about PTSD became a site for expressing political tensions, controversies, and anxieties that could not otherwise be addressed or identified.This research explores how Yugoslav psychiatrists tailored the language of PTSD to their own particular clinical and political needs, infusing it with local assumptions and experiences, often radically changing its original meaning and intentions in the process. Moreover, the article engages with discourses of psychological trauma in Eastern Europe and the socialist world, which remains a neglected topic. It examines how the post-WWII and socialist-era psychiatric discourse and silences were reinterpreted and worked into the psychiatric-political attempts to make sense of the wars of Yugoslav succession.

From the streets to the town halls: Municipalist platforms in the post-Yugoslav space

In the last decade, urban social movements that emerged in the Yugoslav successor states decided to form political platforms to enter the institutional arena, often after years of mobilisation for the right to the city. Their aim was to seize power at the local level, trying to provide an answer to the crisis of representative democracy and to oppose the process of centralisation of power. These platforms ran for elections in Zagreb (Croatia) and Belgrade (Serbia), to reclaim local autonomy on societal, environmental, economic and political matters. Based on ethnographic work, document analysis and a series of in-depth interviews with activists, this article explores the trajectories of two platforms, ‘Zagreb Is Ours’ ( Zagreb je naš) in Zagreb, Croatia, and ‘We Won’t Let Belgrade D(r)own’ ( Ne davimo Beograd) in Belgrade, Serbia. It analyses the factors accounting for the choice of urban activists to embrace new municipalist ideas as strategic ideological and political positioning of their electoral platforms, arguing that the reasons are twofold: the embeddedness into regional and transnational activist networks, which facilitated the process of diffusion of new municipalist ideas across Europe and locally, and the resonance of new municipalism with socialist Yugoslavia’s decentralised system of self-management and direct democracy, an historical experience that the platforms’ initiators partially reappraised.

Eltion Meka, Stefano Bianchini (eds.), The Challenges of Democratization and Reconciliation in the Post-Yugoslav Space (Baden-Baden, Nomos: 2020): a Response to Duško Lopandić and Asim Mujkić

Eltion Meka, Stefano Bianchini (eds.), The Challenges of Democratization and Reconciliation in the Post-Yugoslav Space (Baden-Baden, Nomos: 2020): a Response to Duško Lopandić and Asim Mujkić

Federico Giulio Sicurella, Speaking for the Nation: Intellectuals and Nation-building in the Post-Yugoslav Space

Federico Giulio Sicurella, Speaking for the Nation: Intellectuals and Nation-building in the Post-Yugoslav Space

Towards trans-feminist coalitions in the post-Yugoslav space: Building feminist radical solidarities

The conflict between trans-inclusive and trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) has recently erupted in the post-Yugoslav space, adding to the urgency of embracing trans-feminism. In order to forge the ground for such a feminist orientation, this paper interweaves two theoretical reflections: the subject of feminism, and the historical lesbian experience of becoming ‘included’ with/in it. Beginning with the idea that, similarly to trans, it also took time and effort for lesbianity (see discussion on this concept in the article) to be recognised as a ‘legitimate’ subject of feminist emancipation, I extend Wittig's negation of lesbian womanhood to trans women. With this in mind, I argue that feminist radical solidarity requires an open-ended, liminal conception of gender. I then draw upon nine interviews with predominantly cis-gender lesbian activists from the post-Yugoslav space to explore the ways in which they endeavoured to bring about feminist radical solidarity in their activist engagement. I conclude that solidarity rather than normative inclusion that we, lesbians, fought for as feminists, should eventually be put at the service of trans-feminism. Like that, trans-feminism can become an integral part of women studies, trans women can be recognised as subjects of feminism, and trans persons embraced as our political and personal allies.