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Kosta Nikolić, PhD
Institute for Contemporary History
Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 


THE IDEOCRATIC STATE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: THE SERBIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Vol. XXXVIII, 1/2020, pp. 9–34
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2020.1.nik.9-34

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

In Serbian history, the twentieth century represents a dynamic period in which the state dramatically changed its borders, disappeared and reappeared on a couple of occasions, investing its former statehood into the Yugoslav project. Such changes had a deep impact on the development of the society and its features, with violence as a worrying, yet constant trait. With its democratic structures never fully built during the 20th century, Serbia remained a non-stratified and underdeveloped society, characterized by serious deficits in its legal order. Oscillating between dictatorship and democracy, Serbian society experienced several authoritarian regimes, often with devastating consequences. These regimes fostered fragile institutions, an unfinished state, and an underdeveloped society. Occasional attempts to jump-start Serbian society and move it from the European periphery through shortcuts and sideways led to unsuccessful outcomes.

Historical experience has shown that Serbian modern history rarely revolved around the individual, as clear prevalence was given to “the people”. The domination of this collective principle did not completely exclude individualism, but hardly centered around it. The individual was always forced to fit into the collective frame, as a member of a family, a people, and a nation. The principle of “popular sovereignty” materialized as the myth of the nation as an ultimate legitimization for exercising power. “The people” was conceptualized as a collective factor whose “will” is a final and unlimited principle of organization of political community.

 

KEYWORDS: The Balkans, South Slavs, Serbian Nation, Identity, Religion, Ideocracy, Ethnic Conflicts, Disintegration

 

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