Suchergebnisse

A pioneering book on an important novel subject, Memory Activism and Digital Practices after Conflict presents a thorough and detailed overview of memory activism in Serbia over the last 20 years, across two generations. First of all, the book traces the transition from anti-war and human rights activism to 'first-generation memory activism', by examining the trajectory of the NGO Women in Black created in the 1990s to protest against Serbian nationalism, Milošević's war policy and Serb war crimes in the Yugoslav wars. The turn to what could be defined as memory activism grew organically out of this initial anti-nationalist and anti-war struggle, gaining traction following the deep disappointment felt by many in the Serbian alternative with the continuities in Serbia's institutions and social structures after the fall of Milošević in 2000, the official silence and denial of war crimes, and the unfulfilled promises of transitional justice in the region.

This article examines the evolving concepts of the state among Serbian intellectuals since the nineteenth century, and then focuses on their final attempt at conceptualising a new and reformed Yugoslavia before the disintegration of the country in 1991. Three concepts of the state historically existed in Serbian national thought: a centralised Yugoslav state, a federal Yugoslav union and a 'Greater Serbia' acting as an alternative to South Slav unification. This article argues that the Serbian intellectuals' main platform of the 1980s, the 'Contribution to the Public Debate on the Constitution' of 1988, remained within the main 'pro-Yugoslav' tradition, but that its proposals were neither genuinely 'centralist' nor 'decentralist'. Rather, they were shaped by exclusively Serbian concerns and were too incoherent to resuscitate Yugoslavia.

Why did Yugoslavia disintegrate? an overview of contending explanations -- The historical legacy-- National ideologies and Yugoslavia's viability as a state -- The historical legacy: the evolution of interwar Yugoslav politics, 1918-1941-- The legacy of two world wars -- The socialist legacy-- Nation/people/republic: self-determination in socialist Yugoslavia -- The reopening of the "national question" in the 1960s-- The Croatian spring and the dissolution of Yugoslavia-- Return engagement: intellectuals and nationalism in Tito's Yugoslavia -- The breakdown: the 1980s-- A last attempt at educational integration: the failure of the "common educational cores" in Yugoslavia in the early 1980s-- The inter-regional struggle for resources and the fall of Yugoslavia-- The Slovenian-Croatian confederal proposal: a tactical move or an ultimate solution?-- Destruction of the Yugoslav Federation: policy or confluence of tactics?-- The role of the Yugoslav people's army in the dissolution of Yugoslavia: the army without a state?--The disintegration of Yugoslavia and western foreign policy in the 1980s-- Disintegrative synergies and the dissolution of socialist federations: Yugoslavia in comparative perspective