Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State: Yugoslavia, Serbia and Croatia

342 Pages·2002·4.362 MB·English

by  Siniša Malešević

Ideology, Legitimacy
and the
New State
ROUTLEDGE SERIES:N ATIONALISM AND ETHNICITY
ISSN 1462-9755
GeneralE ditor: William Safran
This news eriesd rawsa ttentiont o someo f the moste xcitingi ssuesi n current
world political debate:n ation-building,a utonomya nd self-determination;
ethnic identity, conflict and accommodation;p luralism, multiculturalism
andt he politics oflanguage;e thnonationalismi,r redentisma nds eparatism;
and immigration, naturalizationa nd citizenship. The seriesw ill include
monographsa s well as editedv olumes,a nd throught he useo f cases tudies
and comparativea nalysesw ill bring togethers omeo f the bestw ork to be
found in the field.
1. Ethnicity and Citizenship: The CanadianC ase( NEP 1/3,A utumn 1995)
Editedb yJ eanL aponcea ndW illiam Safran
2. Nationalism and EthnoregionalI dentities in China (NEP 4 1&2, Spring/
Summer1 998)
Editedb y William Safran
3. Identity and Territorial Autonomyi n Plural Societies( NEP 53/4,A utumn/
Winter 1999)
Edited by William Safrana ndR amonM afz
4. Ideology, Legitimacya nd the New State: Yugoslavia,S erbia and Croatia
SinisaM aleSevic
IDEOLOGY, LEGITIMACY
and the
NEW STATE
Yugoslavia, Serbia and Croatia
Sinisa Malesevic
I~ ~~o~~~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First publishedi n 2002i n Great Britain by
Roudedge
2 Park Square,M ilton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
270 MadisonA ve, New York NY 10016
Transferredto Digital Printing 2008
Website:w ww.roudedge.com
Copyright© 2002 SinisaM alesevic
British Library Cataloguingin PublicationD ata
Maldevic, Sinisa
Ideology, legitimacya ndt he new state:Y ugoslavia,S erbiaa nd Croatia.-
(Roudedges eries.N ationalisma nde thnicity; no. 4)
1. Ideology- Yugoslavia2 . Ideology- Serbia3 . Ideology-
Croatia4 . Yugoslavia- Politics andg overnmen-t 1945--1980
5. Serbia- Politics andg overnmen-t 1945 6. Croatia-
Politics andg overnment-1990-
I. Title
320.9'497
ISBN 0-7146-5215-6( cloth)
ISSN 1462-9755
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Maldevic, Sinisa.
Ideology, legitimacya ndt he new state:Y ugoslavia,S erbiaa ndC roatia/
SinisaM alesevic.
p. cm. - (Routledges eries- nationalisma nde thnicity, ISSN 1462-9755;4 )
Includesb ibliographicalr eferencesa ndi ndex.
ISBN 0-7146-5215-6
1. Yugoslavia- Politics andg overnmen-t 1945-1980.2 . Ideology- Yugoslavia.3 .
Serbia- Politics andg overnmen-t 1945-1992.4 . Ideology- Yugoslavia- Serbia.5 .
Croatia- Politics andg overnmen-t 1990- 6. Ideology- Croatia.I . Title. II. Series.
JN9670.M352 002
320.9497-dc21
2002020215
All rights reserved.N o part oft his publication may be reproduced,s toredi n or introducedi nto
a retrieval systemo r transmittedi n any form or by any means,e lectronic, mechanical,
photocopying,r ecordingo r otherwise,w ithout the prior written permissiono ft he publishero f
this book.
Typeseti n New Baskerville 10.9 pt/12 pt by CambridgeP hotosettingS ervices,
Cambridge
Publisher'sN ote
The publisherh as gone to greatl engthst o ensuret he quality of this reprint but points
out that somei mperfectionsi n the original may be apparent.
Contents
SeriesE ditor'sP reface vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Ideology 11
2. Political Legitimacy 84
PART II: THE CASE STUDIES
3. Yugoslavia1 945-60 123
4. Serbia1 987-97 172
5. Croatia1 990-97 223
PART III: BACK TO THEORY
6. Ideologya ndL egitimacy: Back to Theory 273
7. Conclusion 314
References 318
Index 329
SeriesE ditor's Preface
The breakupo f Yugoslaviaa nd the violencef ollowing that eventh as
given rise to a voluminousl iterature.T he presentw ork constitutesa
significanta ndh ighly original additiont o thatl iterature.R athert han
treading familiar ground - with its emphasiso n civil war, ethnic
cleansing,a nd externali ntervention- it focuseso n the ideologya nd
history on which the two major post-Communis'ts uccessors' tatesi n
the Balkansh aveb asedt heir legitimacy.T he booki s a combinationo f
case study and theoretical-analyticala pproachesh ighlighting the
reciprocalr elationshipb etweent he two states.I n that sensei t fulfils
in an almoste xemplaryf ashion the aim of the Frank Casss erieso n
Nationalism and Ethnicity. The researchl eans heavily on existing
sociological,p olitical, and psychologicalt heories;i n a final chapter,
generalt heoreticala ssumptionsa rer eassesseidn the light of specific
experience.
SiniSaM aldevice xaminest he cultural andr eligiousu nderpinnings
of eacho f the statesi n heavily documentedd etail, paying particular
attentiont o the post-WorldW ar II periodo f Titoist consolidationa nd
national-communiset xperimentationT. he authord iscussesth ev aried
meaningso f ideology - including those of Marx, Durkheim, and
Parsons,a nd of the structuralistsa nd postmodernists- and analyzes
its normativea nd operationala spectsa nd its connectionw ith legiti-
macy.W hile adoptingW eber'sc oncepto flegitimacy,t he authors hows
that Serbiana nd Croatianl egitimacy are basedo nly in part on legal-
rational criteria, and weighs the place of these criteria relative to
charisma,e galitarianism,a nd selectivei nstitutions. The authora lso
dealsw ith the ethnonationalismt anipulationo f history by politicians
who, motivated by the questf or power, seek to reinforce national
cohesionb y meanso f the invocation of 'holy traditions,' myths, and
heroic events such as 'national liberation'; by the use of slogans
such as 'we, the [chosen] people'a nd 'the working masses';a nd by
the referencet o threatss ucha s imperialisma ndc apitalism.L anguage
playsa n importantr ole in this effort: linguistic manipulationis resorted
viii Ideology, Legitimacya nd the New State
to not only to createa ndd isseminatea desiredn ationali deology, but
also to demarcateS erbiana nd Croatianf rom eacho ther and show
that they are separatela nguagesE. xamplesf rom political tracts and
otherk inds ofliteraturea re providedt o maket his point.
The author is tough-mindeda nd objective, playing no favorites
betweenS erbia and Croatia, and using documentarys ourcesf rom
both countries. Particular attention is devoted to the respective
roles of SlobodanM ilosevic and Franjo Tudjman and their use of
political organizationsc, lientelistic patterns,t he churches,t he schools,
and the press in order to strengthent heir rule. Formerly high
communista pparatchiks' born again' as nationalists,b oth leaders
have attemptedt o baset he legitimacy of their rule in part on post-
Communist democratic constitutions, but both have behavedi n
an unconstitutionalm anneri n the name of national defensea nd
security. And both, while referring to universal principles, have
appealedto narrowe thnonationasl entiments.
William Safran
University ofC olorado
Acknowledgements
This book owes much to the help of other people.I startedw orking
on this project in Pragueu nder the guidance of the late Ernest
Gellner who will always remain a consistents ourceo f inspiration.
Without the unfailing supporto fJ ohnA . Hall and Kieran Keohane
this work would not haveb eenc ompletedo n time. Their advice,c rit-
icism and intellectual support have proved invaluable. I have also
greatly benefitedf rom the commentso f my friends and colleagues
GordanaU zelac,S ukumarP eriwal,P addyO 'Carroll, lain MacKenzie,
PietS trydoma nd,e specially,m y life partner,V esna.
However,t he peoplew ho mostd eservem y gratitudea re my father
and colleague,K rstan, and my mother, Ljubica, whose encourage-
menta ndw illingnesst o helpw eree xceptional.I dedicatet his bookt o
them.
Introduction
This studyh ast wo aims: theoreticala nds ubstantiveT. hef irst intendst o
outline an analytic concepto f ideology that is both theoreticallya nd
operationallyv iable. Theo bjectivei s to developa newc onceptuaml odel
of ideologyw ith a frameworkt hat is informedb y andd rawso n many
different theoretical positions, but which is also empirically well
grounded.F or that purposea ll significant theorieso f ideology are
surveyed,i dentifying their mains tructuralc haracteristicsa s well as their
points of dispute.R eviewingt heset heorieso f ideology, I havec omet o
the conclusiont hat their epistemologicald ifferencesc an be brought
down to the level of sevenm ain areaso f contention:w hetheri deology
shouldb e conceptualiseda s inclusive or restrictive;b e mades ubjectt o
true/falsec riteria; be definedi n oppositiont o science;b e understood
as a universalo r particularp henomenonb; e regardeda s a moderno r
'primordial' featureo f sociall ife; includev aluesa ndi deasa s well as a
materialf orm; andf inally, be treateda s a rationalo r an irrationalf orce.
The analytical position developedi n this study aims not to resolve
thesei ssuesi n the mannero f establishinga new 'grandn arrative',b ut
rathert o devisea no penh ypotheticalf rameworkt hat,b y concentrating
on the form and contento f ideology, will indirectly supportt he theo-
retical claimsi n question.T hus,i n ordert o showt hati deologyc anb est
be approacheda nds tudiedb y applyinga looselyf ormulatedi nclusive
definition of ideology, rejecting true/falsea nd science/non-science
criteriaa ndv iewing it as a complexb ut modern,m ateriallys hapeda nd
predominantlyr ational entity, an appropriateo perationalm odel of
ideologyi s developed.T his operationalm odeli s analyticali n the sense
that by focusingo n the form andc ontento f ideology, it aims to 'break
down' the structureo f ideologyi nto a numbero f mutuallyc omparable
elementsl .This approacha lsod istinguishesb etweentw o deeplyr elated
but differentw ays of how ideologyf unctionsi n reality, the 'normative'
(asp ostulateda ndf ormulatedb y the official doctrine), andt he'o per-
ative' (as it functions in the institutional structureso f everydayl ife).
The approach also identifies six conceptual aspectso f ideology