Socialist Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia Research Articles

Transitional Justice in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia in a Comparative Framework

This thesis aims to enhance transitional justice studies with a focus on the Balkan peninsula, by providing a comparative analysis of the extent of transitional justice mechanisms in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. With the fall of military dictatorships in Latin America in the 1980s, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of new states in the 1990s, the concept of Transitional Justice (TJ) saw a significant rise in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was further propelled by the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the prolonged breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992) as well as the fall of the communist dictatorship in Albania (1990). The emergence of new states and the state-building processes that followed the political and social changes also brought new challenges and conflicts, although they marked the end of significantly repressive political regimes. Considering that the implementation of TJ has undergone several changes over time and is dependent on the different settings in which it was employed, it is necessary to conduct extensive comparative research to determine the extent to which TJ differs in post-communist and post-conflict nations. The study has developed three main hypotheses: (1) The limited achievement of lustration law in Albania has conditioned the current status of transitional justice; (2) The state-building process has contributed to the evolution of Transitional Justice in Kosovo; (3) The power-sharing process as a TJ pillar in North Macedonia has fueled TJ in the country. By utilizing a mixed methods approach, data was collected through elite interviews, conducted in the three countries with 44 representatives from academia, politics, media, and civil society. To conclude, two hypotheses are fully upheld in terms of the limited achievement of lustration law and its implications with the current status of transitional justice in Albania; and the contribution of state-building in Kosovo to the evolution of transitional justice. The third hypothesis related to the power-sharing process in North Macedonia as a fueling mechanism for the evolution of transitional justice is partially upheld. Received: 13 February 2024 / Accepted: 30 April 2024 / Published: 5 May 2024

Zapadni krediti Jugoslaviji 1980. godine: Na putu bez povratka

The importance of external debt emerged as a critical component of Yugoslavia’s crisis in the late 1970s and early 1980s.The article comprehensively examines the underlying factors contributing to the accumulation of significant debt, analyzes the government’s reactive measures to address the financial situation, and looks at the state-level strategic initiatives undertaken by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in 1980. These attempts sought to protect external liquidity by obtaining extra loans from prominent Western nations, engaging with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and negotiating for financial aid from Kuwait.

Comparative Analysis of the Labour Act Status of Seafarers in the Republic of Croatia and the Surrounding Countries of the Adriatic Sea

The aim of this article is to present and compare the regulations concerning the specific labour act status of Croatian seafarers with those of seafarers in neighbouring countries that have access to the Adriatic Sea. These countries were part of the legal system of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until the 1990s. The question of the professional and social status of seafarers is a specific and complex issue in Labour Act. Seafarers, as employees, have a distinct labour and social status compared to shore-based workers in many respects. To address this, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted 68 instruments (conventions and recommendations) related to their labour status regulation. Today nearly all these ILO documents are consolidated in the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention, making it the most significant legislation concerning the work, life, and social rights of seafarers in international shipping. In this context, this paper examines and analyses Croatian national regulations governing labour and social status of seafarers. It also compares these regulations with those of the neighboring countries such as Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in terms of the standards prescribed by Maritime Labour Convention.

Transitional Justice Status in Albania Through Local Perceptions

This research article aims to enhance regional studies with a focus on the Balkan peninsula, by providing a comprehensive analysis of the extent of transitional justice mechanisms in Albania and its local perception among the citizens. With the fall of military dictatorships in Latin America in 1980s, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new states in 1990s, the concept of Transitional Justice (TJ) saw a significant rise in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was further propelled by the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the prolonged breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992) as well as the fall of the communist dictatorship in Albania (1990). The emergence of new states and the state-building processes that followed the political and social changes also brought new challenges and conflicts, although they marked the end of significantly repressive political regimes. Considering that the implementation of TJ has undergone several changes over time and dependent of the different settings in which it was employed, it is necessary to conduct extensive research to determine the extent to which TJ differs in post-communist and post-conflict nations. The main research question of this article is: How is reflected the current status of transitional justice in Albania in the lens of public perceptions? To achieve the goal, this article employs quantitative data through a survey conducted with 1021 respondents in Albania. The results of the study show that there are significant differences between the responses of participants who reported having knowledge of Transitional Justice and those who reported being unaware, particularly with their understanding of the number of victims affected. p-value <0.05.
 
 Received: 6 September 2023 / Accepted: 29 November 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

(Post)Yugoslavian Music Press in Transition

The development of the Internet and digital technologies has influenced the ever- greater migrations of printed content to the digital sphere (blogs, online media, Internet portals, social networks), which has also brought with itself changes in readers’ habits and in the concept and format of texts as wells. Music press is no exception in that respect. In the context of South European states, these processes coincide with the period of political, social, cultural and economic transition, giving rise to the development of numerous regional and local specific forms of popular culture. The existence of the SFRY as a shared state enabled the creation of an authentic cultural space, which continued to develop even after its disintegration. This paper endeavors to shed light on one segment of that local authenticity through an analysis of music press. The aim the authors of this paper aspire to achieve is the presentation of the development path of the printed media in the first place inthe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, then in Serbia, as well as the reconstructions of the modality of the transformation of this media in the transition period from an anthropological perspective. The wish is to identify the perception and significance of music as a local culturalphenomenon through the qualitative analysis of the archival material and the available Internet sources as well, then to trace the cultural changes that have been going on over time as a result of global and local social and cultural turmoil. We do not refer to press only as the medium which has an informative role, but rather as the medium that reflects the local community’s attitudes, simultaneously constructing narratives on popular culture that are incorporated in our everyday life.

The Principle of Solidarity and Fraternity/Brotherhood in Socialist Yugoslavia in the Light of the Catholic Social Teaching

The paper is divided into two parts. The first part explains the concept of solidarity and fraternity on a theoretical level, especially in the light of Catholic social teaching. The second part analyzes the principles of solidarity and fraternity in Croatian society during the National Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition to solving the national question under a specific aspect of brotherhood, this term was understood in the spirit of the communist ideology of brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav peoples, and the ideology of solidarity was present predominantly in the form of self-governing socialism. The paper, therefore, shows how socialist Yugoslavia had many characteristics of a totalitarian system defined by communist ideology.

Student Movement in Zadar in 1971 from the Perspective of Repressive Bodies of the SFRJ (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Ovim se člankom na temelju izvornoga arhivskoga gradiva opisuje tijek studentskoga pokreta 1971., i to s isključivim osvrtom na grad Zadar. U tom kontekstu primarno je korištena dokumentacija Službe državne sigurnosti Republičkoga sekretarijata za unutrašnje poslove Socijalističke Republike Hrvatske. Ona je u svojem korpusu sadržavala brojne zabilješke, opservacije i zaključke o djelovanju zadarskih sveučilištaraca i njima svjetonazorski bliskih pojedinaca ili grupa s promatranoga područja. Ta je režimska služba vodila osobne dosjee nadziranih aktera za trajanja događaja koji su obilježili studentske aktivnosti u žarišnim trenucima hrvatskoga proljeća. Pritom je neophodno napomenuti da spomenuti dosjei promatrani zasebno ne moraju biti, odnosno nisu uvijek apsolutno relevantan materijal, ali u cjelini s ostalom dokumentacijom stvaraju nužne pretpostavke za dublje zadiranje i sveobuhvatnije analiziranje navedene teme. Upravo stoga nakana je ovakvim pristupom upozoriti na ključna ponašanja komunističkih represivnih tijela, a u tom smislu poglavito onih koja su bila prioritetna u pokušajima onemogućavanja ostvarenja studentskih ciljeva.

Mercenaries of a Phantom War The “Hostile Emigration” in Yugoslavia’s Globalized Ideology of Insecurity

Yugoslav state security services became infamous for organizing dozens of targeted killings against hostile emigrants abroad. What can be regarded as an interlinked chain of violence and counter-violence has more to it. First, there is the experience of external threats (not only) common to Communist leaders. But in the Yugoslav case, the global non-aligned position of the country strengthened the insecurity felt by the leadership. This was caused by a close identification with Third World countries affected by Cold War interventions. Officials and politicians concerned with security matters interpreted the continuing aggression of the “hostile emigration” as part and proof of a subliminal “Special War” against the socialist self-administration system. As a response, the state security stepped up the lethal operations in the host countries of the “hostile emigration”. The study starts with the development of anti-Communist and pro-Soviet exile activism in the post-war period. It traces the reinforcement of the danger posed by hostile émigrés back to the early 1960s, when Yugoslavia became a prominent member of the Non- Aligned Movement. Also, it analyses the roots of the “Special War” and shows how this idea of external intervention was transferred to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The consequences of the adaptation to the Yugoslav conditions are addressed as well as the outcome for the treatment of the “hostile emigration.” A critical assessment of émigré terrorism is followed by the presentation of exemplified cases. This essay seeks for a better comprehension of the mental disposition behind the drastic measures applied by Yugoslav secret services. Therefore, it is focused on the importance of the antagonistic emigration for the concept of the “Special War.”

О СТАЊУ СРПСКОГ ЈЕЗИКА И ПИСМА У ОКУПИРАНОЈ СРБИЈИ ЗА ВРЕМЕ ВЕЛИКОГ РАТА (1915–1918) И О ПОТОЊИМ РЕЦИДИВИМА ТОГА СТАЊА

During the Great War (World War I), the Austro‑Hungarian occupier divided Serbia into two occupation zones: the western, Austro‑Hungarian, and the eastern, Bulgarian. The occupation government sought to destroy the political and national self‑awareness of Serbians by launching its propaganda Belgrade newspaper („Beogradske novine”) after banning all domestic newspapers. Newspapers were published in the so‑called „Serbo‑Croatian” („srpsko‑hrvatski”) language, in Ijekavic and Latin, under the editorship of foreigners, i.e. German and Austro‑Hungarian subjects. Forms of the Zagreb (Croatian) variant of the Serb language were imposed through language editing. In the areas that belonged to the Bulgarian occupation zone, a similar program was implemented as in Austro‑Hungarian zone, only not in the direction of Croatization, but Bulgarianization of the Serbian population (banning the use of the Serb language and script, Serb books, Serb personal names, Serb fame, etc.). However, certain occupation methods from the First World War and earlier times, contained in the fight against the Serbs through the denial of the Serb language and culture, will continue to last in later periods in the Serb ethnic areas, including Serbia. This will continue, in the new political circumstances, to coincide in many ways with the Austro‑Hungarian occupation plans from the First World War. Thus, in the fight against Serb identity and national features, the pro‑Croatian government of the CPY (Comunnist Party of Yugoslavia) and the communist leader J. Broz Tito accepted solutions from the time of the Austro‑Hungarian occupation of the Western Balkans, which were directly harmful to the Serbs. However, the collapse of the communist/socialist Yugoslavia (The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) did not bring significant changes to the Serbs regarding the preservation of the national script (the Cyrillic alphabet), as well as the name Serb language („српски језик”).

Total People’s Defence and Social Self-Protection Committees – example of the Socialist Republic of Croatia

In the late 1970s, the defence, protection and security affairs of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were integrated in a single concept of total people’s defence and social selfprotection. It was conceived as a combination of two functions that would promptly prevent possible crisis situations and effectively respond to all threats to society, including war. Total people’s defence and social self-protection committees were established to manage the concept in all spheres of society, ranging from the local community level to the level of the Republic and the autonomous province. Committees were not established at the Federation level. Committees at all levels were led by presidents of the League of Communists’ organisations. This affirmed and reinforced the dominance of the League of Communists at all defence and security levels of the society, including the impact on the territorial component of the Armed Forces. This was actually the key feature of their establishment, because until then the armed forces were exclusively subordinated to the president of Yugoslavia and of the League of Communists, Josip Broz Tito. Committees were established on the basis of the conclusions of the 11th congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia which was held in 1978. They had a specific position and considerable powers in the defense system, although those were never defined constitutionally. Outside the SFRY Constitution, they were introduced in 1982 in the Law on Total People’s Defence, which prescribed that the Presidency of SFRY could transfer to them part of its powers as regards to the use of the Territorial Defense. In the late 1980s, they became futile because they took over the jurisdictions of other bodies and organisations at lower levels, whereas at the highest level they were unable to respond to the deterioration of the political situation in Yugoslavia. With the dissolution of the League and the elections in some of the republics in 1990, their role ended.

Instytucja Prezydenta w systemie politycznym Republiki Serbii

The institution of the President of the Republic of Serbia was established under the 2006 constitution. Previous experience of the country was limited in terms of the structure of the executive power. In 1953, the office of President of Yugoslavia was introduced in the former Yugoslavia. From 1971, the function of the head of state was performed by the collective Presidium of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), consisting of representatives of individual republics and autonomous districts (i.e. Vojvodina and Kosovo). The presidium was headed by Tito, who was president for life. After his death in 1980, the function of the chairman of the Presidium was held by representatives of the republic on a rotating basis. The office of the President of the Republic of Serbia was introduced by the Basic Law of 1990 (still within the framework of the functioning of the Yugoslav federation). The provisions of the Constitution define the powers of the head of state, which are characteristic of parliamentary systems. The current president is also the president of a political party, which means that his prerogatives go far beyond the provisions provided for in the constitution.

Kornai's “main line of causality”: The case of socialist Albania and SFR Yugoslavia, with a special focus on their banking sectors' ownership structure

AbstractBased on the structure of János Kornai's ‘main line of causality’, two unique country cases are compared within the former European socialist bloc: Albania and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The research provides a comparative analysis with an overview of the two countries' development between World War II and the fall of the socialist regimes. Special attention is paid to the period following the 1970s as the underlying reforms had been implemented in Yugoslavia by then, leading to fundamentally different socialist prototypes. Regarding the differences, the analysis also gives an insight into the structure of the two respective banking systems. Kornai's ‘main line of causality’ provides the framework for the current research, supplemented by the respective literature. The analysis concludes that despite the fact that all blocks of the causality line differed in the two systems, similar challenges had to be addressed during the transition period. Furthermore, Albania and the successor states of Yugoslavia reflected a range of common characteristics, which implies the relevance of path dependence.

Sports Rivalry as an Element of Political Conflict: The Case of Post-Yugoslav States

In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as in the states that emerged after its break-up, various types of conflict were evident at many levels. One such conflict has been sports rivalries, which, although intended to be separate from the prevailing political disputes, became a significant element in the escalating conflict between the federation’s nations and republics. This article aims to present and analyze the role of sport and its associated competitions in political conflict, both before and after Yugoslavia’s break-up.

Pretposlednje Predsedništvo SFRJ (1984–1989)

The article analyzes the activity of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1984 to 1989, mainly on the basis of unpublished material from the Archives of Yugoslavia. The accent is on confrontation of the members of the Presidency with the rising crisis of the political system in Yugoslavia. The reactions of the Presidency to the turning events during the last two years of its mandate are presented in more detail.

Freedom smothered: Gang rape as patriarchal punishment of emancipated women in Yugoslav new film

This paper investigates how women, and their roles in changing Yugoslav society, were represented in Yugoslav New Film (1961-1972). Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia legalized gender equality in the wake of the Second World War, but the tentacles of patriarchy, which were difficult to eradicate, still lingered from pre-socialist times. In many movies there is a recurring pattern of sexual violence towards women. One possible interpretation of depicted sexual violation, for example gang rape in contemporary-themed Yugoslav New Films, is as a patriarchal punishment for emancipation of women in terms of education, work, or their sexuality. In order to examine this, the feature-length fictional films: Povratak/The Return (Živojin Pavlović, 1966) and Horoskop/Horoscope (Boro Drašković, 1969), in which the freedom of women’s emancipation was smothered by gang rape, are selected for the case study and analysed. The films are explored through the lens of feminist film theory, via close reading. Besides, the concept of the gaze is applied. Furthermore, I scrutinise whether these representations of rape and their aftermaths condone, or condemn brutality toward female characters, or have rather ambivalent stance toward it.

The Effectiveness of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Building the Capacity of Local Police Forces: Case of Kosovo

Kosovo has historically been the scene of ethnic-driven regional conflicts among the communities. After the disengagement of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in 1992, the conflicts that had begun with the independence declarations of the Republics of SFRY eventually evolved into ethnic disputes between Serbs and Albanians. As the United Nations (UN) failed to resolve the conflict by diplomatic means, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) initiated an air campaign to stop armed attacks by Serbian Military Forces on the Albanian civil communities. The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was established in 1999 to restore peace and stability in Kosovo. One of the mandated tasks of the UNMIK was to establish the local police known as Kosovo Police Service (KPS) and to build its capacity. The objectives of this research are to determine whether the UNMIK was effective and successful in building the KPS’s capacity. A set of new success criteria is developed and applied to evaluate the success of UNMIK in this mandated task. Data for this study were collected using official reports of the UN and the crime statistics of the KPS. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that UNMIK was successful in establishing a local police force.

RESTITUTION OF PROPERTY IN SERBIA TO CITIZENS OF THE FORMER SFRY REPUBLICS

In the 1990s, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was broken up into constituent republics. After gaining independence, all the newly formed states, with the exception of Bosnia and Herzegovina, initiated procedures for the return of seized property and compensation to the former owners, or their legal heirs. Slovenia was the first to begin the comprehensive restitution process, followed by Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. If we exclude Bosnia and Herzegovina which still has not passed a law on restitution, Serbia was the last to start solving this extremely sensitive issue. The return of seized property in the Republic of Serbia to applicants who are foreign citizens is regulated in such a way that the right to return is held by natural persons – foreign citizens; in case of their death or declaration of death, the right passes on to their legal heirs, under the condition of reciprocity. It is assumed that there is reciprocity with the country that did not regulate the restitution of property if a domestic citizen can acquire property rights and inherit immovable property in that country. This paper presents and analyses data on the current course of returning seized property and compensation to citizens of the former SFRY republics.

Who belongs to the swiss body politique—A diaspora perspective

In this paper, I try to better understand the intersection between “integration” in legal terms, and how long-term resident “non-citizens” and migrants from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) situate themselves in narratives of belonging vis a vis the normative power structure that constitutes the Swiss body politique. More specifically, how do labor and forced migrants from former Yugoslavia negotiate the shifting understanding of “integration” in Switzerland in legal and social terms? Former Yugoslavs constitute not only a comparatively large number of “non-citizens” in Switzerland, but individuals from-and-with-connections to this community also embody numerous labels and categories of migrant that statistical databases, the media, and legal practices attach to them since the 1970s. Key findings in this paper illustrate a two-tiered narrative: “non-citizens” seemed to have maintain(ed) their pursuit of not attracting attention to their persona—a strategy that allowed individuals to disappear within the larger society. Ensuing Europeanization processes, coupled with the Wars of Yugoslav Succession during the 1990s, however, brought to the fore “a politics of rupture” that called into question othering processes, and the seemingly tightening sociolegal basis of belonging to the Swiss body politique. Hitherto examined data suggests that interlocutors pursue a “positive essentialist frame” to counter exclusionary narratives “non-citizens” experience to postulate “rights claims”. Interviewees, in other words, activate diaspora connections and networks to support and aid each other when legal and socio-political questions arise, but also to actively influence the political and legal landscape in Switzerland.

From the Territorial Defence Forces to the Army of the Republic – The formation of the Armed Forces in light of the Decisions of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The organization of the Yugoslav armed forces into two strategic components of which the Yugoslav People’s Army was one, while the others were made up from the territorial defence forces of the Yugoslav republics and autonomous regions, was a concept based on the idea of a massive and general popular resistance, modelled on the partisan movement from the times of the Second World War. From the outset their development and organizational forms were significantly determined, among other things, by the relationship between the unitarist and separatist tendencies and policies, which was a permanent feature of the complete development of the Yugoslav political system that had its final expression in the provisions of the Constitution of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia that had been adopted in 1974. The Constitution defined as the right and duty of municipalities, autonomous regions and republics that, in accordance with the system of people’s defence, each one could regulate and organize the people’s defence forces on its own territory. The Law on the people’s defence also delimited and stipulated that the relevant organs of the Federation established the basic plans concerning the development and implementation of Yugoslav armed forces as a whole, securing the unity of their actions and organizing and preparing the Yugoslav People’s Army, while the relevant organs of the republics, regions and municipalities organized and prepared the territorial defence forces and secured the unity of its organization, preparation and action on their respective territories. This was the basic constitutional responsibility in terms of defence which was not changed for the duration of the common state’s existence. Interventions regarding the organization of Yugoslav armed forces that were implemented since the 1980’s were reflected on certain formational solutions, some aspects of relations in the command and control lines and in the selection of personnel for the most responsible duties in the detachments and headquarters of territorial defence forces, but in essence it did not affect the doctrine nor did it change or derogate the constitutional authority of the republics or their state organs in the domain of defence. The state organs of Bosnia and Herzegovina attempted to secure an equal position in the process of Yugoslav dissolution, up to the extent to which this was possible and within the framework of their jurisdiction. In official documents that were adopted in the Assembly in October 1991 and which defined the determination and attitudes of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the possible arrangement of the Yugoslav union and the future relations within it, the constitutional authority of the Presidency was confirmed in the domain of defence as well as in the command and control over the territorial defence forces. After the proclamation of state independence and its subsequent international recognition, the dramatic political crisis escalated into an armed aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. By proclaiming the state of direct military threat, the Presidency assumed the responsibilities of the Assembly, and with a set of legal acts quickly defined the forms, organization and dynamic of the development of its own armed forces. This development was quickly initiated on 8 April 1992 with the abolishment of the Republican headquarters of the Territorial defence forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the establishment of the Headquarters of the Territorial defence forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which assumed command over the subordinate headquarters and detachments with an unchanged formation and structure. The Decree with legal power that was passed on 20 May defined that Armed forces in peacetime were made up of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while in wartime they also included the police forces and all other armed units that placed themselves under their command. It was stipulated that until the Army became established, its function in the Armed forces would be performed by the Territorial defence forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 4 July 1992 the Presidency as the highest organ of leadership and command passed a Decision about the organization of the Armed forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereby the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was officially formed and put into function, while the Territorial defence forces stopped existing.

Valeska Bopp-Filimonov and Martin Jung, eds. Kaleidoskop Rumänien. Einblicke in die aktuelle Vielfalt des interdisziplinären Faches Rumänistik

Valeska Bopp-Filimonov and Martin Jung, eds. <i>Kaleidoskop Rumänien. Einblicke in die aktuelle Vielfalt des interdisziplinären Faches Rumänistik</i>