The Legacy of Yugoslavia: Politics, Economics and Society in the Modern Balkans

Product Description

What are the consequences of Yugoslavia's existence – and breakup – for the present? This book reflects on this very question, identifying and analysing the political legacies left behind by Yugoslavia through the prism of continuities and ruptures between the past and present of the area.

After the collapse of Yugoslavia, it's former states adopted a nation-building process which opted to eradicate the past as such an approach seemed more convenient for the new national projects. The new states adopted new institutions, new market-oriented economic paradigms and new national symbols. Yugoslavia existed for 70 years and to consider the current political situation in post-Yugoslav states such as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo without taking into account the legacy and remnants of Yugoslavia is to discount a vital part of their political history.

This volume takes a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to examining the legacy of Yugoslavia, covering politics, society, international relations and economics. Focusing on distinctive features of Yugoslavia including worker self-management, the combination of liberalism and communism and the Cold War policy of Non-Alignment, The Legacy of Yugoslavia places Yugoslavia in historical perspective and connects the region's past with its contemporary political situation.

Review

“As the successor states enter their fourth decade, it is tempting to dismiss the legacies of the four decades of a single Yugoslavia that preceded them. This welcome volume addresses the continuing connections of the one with the many, from the strengths and weakness of the former Yugoslavia to its continuities and discontinuities in the seven successor states. Drawn from a recent Oxford conference, its editors have assembled nine instructive chapters primarily from regional scholars. They cover a range of relevant subjects that would daunt any single author. The political chapters examine continuing ambiguities in the role of liberal ideology, civil society and a once common popular culture. Chapters on international affairs consider the legacies of non-alignment, territorial disputes and relations with Russia and Turkey. The final chapters move from two critical appraisals of the Yugoslav economic model that debate its recent relevance to the EU's market model and to a third surveying the struggles over its adoption in business practice and public opinion.” ―John R. Lampe, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Maryland, USA

“Unlike for example electricity, history does not have a switch button, and thus one cannot just simply turn the darkness of one historical period into a light of another, or vice versa. Even after major historical events – wars, state disintegration, revolution or regime collapse – major characteristics of pre-Event system continue well into a new, post-Event era. This book analyses continuities and discontinuities between the Cold War Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, in economic, social, political and ideational spheres. Even 30 years after its collapsing, Yugoslavia still lives in collective memory, institutional practice and identity-designing of its many successor-states. And - as some of the authors of this collection argue - the change, where it happened, was not always for better. Remembering the old and trying to preserve as much as one can in new circumstances is thus not always irrational.” ―Dejan Jovic, Professor of International Relations, University of Zagreb, Croatia

“Yugoslavia´s legacy is crucial for an understanding of the Western Balkans in the 21st. century. Bringing together a variety of disciplines and analytical perspectives this volume sheds new light on continuities and discontinuities of practices, institutions, and experiences of the successor states until the present day. It is highly recommended to all those interested in the history and recent past of t