Serbias Antibureaucratic Revolution

The antibureaucratic revolution was the most crucial episode of Yugoslav conflicts after Tito. Drawing on primary sources and cutting-edge research, this book explains how popular unrest contributed to the fall of communism and the rise of a new form of authoritarianism, competing nationalisms and the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Why do some regimes counter mass movements that strive to oust them with all of their repressive capacities, while other yield with little or no resistance? Could part of the explanation lay in different experiences with social movements and with applying repression against the masses that those regimes' political elites have acquired through their specific historical developments? Could such a lack of experience then cause some regimes to perceive mass movements, once they mobilize against them, as being more spontaneous and more popular than they really are, thus also stronger and less feasible to counter? I explore these questions by analyzing the cases of the political elites of four Yugoslav federal units that found themselves under the onslaught of the so-called "anti-bureaucratic revolution," a Serbian and Montenegrin nationalist populist movement, in 1988-89. I found support for the hypothesized influence that the political elites' relative inexperience with dealing with social movements and with applying repression against the masses influenced their reaction to the "anti-bureaucratic revolution." However, contrary to my speculations, that influence did not seem to operate through affecting their perception and interpretation of the behavior of the movement participants (at protest rallies) in terms of movement's spontaneity and popularity. However, I was also interested in what factors influence the behavior of the lower-level political elites in such circumstances. Under which conditions will they break their loyalty to the regime (that is, to the highest political elites of their political system, their political superiors)? My research suggests that the lower-level political elites tend to engage in rational-choice calculation on whether and to what extent to break their loyalty to the regime by supporting the oppositional movement materially and organizationally. The lower-level political elites seem to base their calculation upon the perception of the determination of their political superiors to cling to power, which is indicated by whether or not the latter threaten and/or apply repression against the movement. The motivation behind this rational-choice calculation of the lower-level political elites seems to be to maximize the chances that one would remain within the ranks of political elites in the future, no matter whether under the old regime or under the new one that might be established by the oppositional movement, if victorious.

This book explores the politics of memory in Southeastern Europe in the context of rising populisms and their hegemonic grip on official memory and politics. It speaks to the increased political, media and academic attention paid to the rise of discontent, frustration and cultural resistance from below across the European continent and the world. In order to demonstrate the complexities of these processes, the volume transcends disciplinary boundaries to explore memory politics, examining the interconnections between memory and populism. It shows how memory politics has become one of the most important fields of symbolic struggle in the contemporary process of "meaning-making," providing space for actors, movements and other mnemonic entrepreneurs who challenge and point to incoherencies in the official narratives of memory and forgetting. Charting the contemporary rise of populist movements, the volume will be of particular interest to regional specialists in Southeastern Europe, Balkan and postcommunist studies, as well as researchers, activists, policy-makers and politicians at the national and EU levels and academics in the fields of political science, sociology, history, cultural heritage and management, conflict and peace studies.

"The Road to War in Serbia is the first serious attempt by scholars from the former Yugoslavia to systematically explore the roots of the conflict and the ideology and propaganda that incited Serbian people to war. Based on years of research, the authors-all eminent scholars of their respective fields, who have lived through these social conflicts-highlight key issues which have date remained unknown or which have been previously neglected." "The issues dealt with include the institutional frameworks of ethnicity and nationalism; the input of the church, science, literature and sports; specific catalysts of the conflict, and the role of the political actors, students, the ruling party and the media." "The Road to War in Serbia will help to understand why and how the violent option of settling disputes and conflicts on the territory of Yugoslavia is being accepted."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Shape of Populism examines socialist Serbia, then part of Yugoslavia, which in the late 1980s witnessed popular mobilization and an emergence of a populist discourse that both constructed and celebrated “the people.” Author Marko Grdešić uses quantitative and qualitative analyses to show how “the people” emerge in the public sphere. This book examines over 300 protests and analyzes them in conjunction with elite events such as party sessions. It examines over 1,600 letters-to-the-editor and political cartoons to reveal the populist construction of “the people.” Grdešić also relies on interviews with participants in populist rallies in the late 1980s to examine the long-term legacies of populism.

This book examines the role of Russian and Serbian nationalism in dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in 1991.

Offers an account of a man who started wars, whose rhetoric whipped up Serb nationalism to a frenzy of "ethnic cleansing" and yet who retained for a decade the ability to wrap the "international community" round his little finger.

What happens to student activism once mass protests have disappeared from view, and youth no longer embody the political frustrations and hopes of a nation? After the Revolution chronicles the lives of student activists as they confront the possibilities and disappointments of democracy in the shadow of the recent revolution in Serbia. Greenberg's narrative highlights the stories of young student activists as they seek to define their role and articulate a new form of legitimate political activity, post-socialism. When student activists in Serbia helped topple dictator Slobodan Milosevic on October 5, 2000, they unexpectedly found that the post-revolutionary period brought even greater problems. How do you actually live and practice democracy in the wake of war and the shadow of a recent revolution? How do young Serbians attempt to translate the energy and excitement generated by wide scale mobilization into the slow work of building democratic institutions? Greenberg navigates through the ranks of student organizations as they transition their activism from the streets back into the halls of the university. In exploring the everyday practices of student activists—their triumphs and frustrations—After the Revolution argues that disappointment is not a failure of democracy but a fundamental feature of how people live and practice it. This fascinating book develops a critical vocabulary for the social life of disappointment with the aim of helping citizens, scholars, and policymakers worldwide escape the trap of framing new democracies as doomed to failure.