The Evolution of Anti-Corruption Legislation in Interwar Yugoslavia (1918–1941)

This article maps the legal framework of the anti-corruption legislation in interwar Yugoslavia, by examining the context and contents of the evolving anti-corruption laws in the period 1918–1941. It examines the intentions of the law-makers and the messaging that they wanted to convey through the legislation in a diachronic perspective, as well as the focus of the anti-corruption efforts towards petty corruption versus grand corruption. It poses questions towards the applicability of existing corruption models in the context of interwar Yugoslavia and proposes new directions for studying persisting structural phenomena shaping corruption practices in Southeastern Europe to this day.

Yugoslav Rock Opera Gubec-beg (1973–1984) – Theatrical Spectacle and Cultural Diplomacy

The paper shows how the first Yugoslav rock opera Gubec-beg was created, how its spectacular stage production made its way into the repertoire of Zagrebʼs Komedija Theatre and the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, how important it was for Yugoslav culture at home and cultural diplomacy abroad and for public opinion regarding this performance. The paper is written on the basis of documents from the Archives of Yugoslavia, the Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, the domestic press and periodicals (entertainment, music, daily, youth, political, musicological, theatre), and academic and scholarly literature.

The Yugoslav Planting Campaign in Martyrs’ Forest 1952–1955: Symbolism, Rituals and Meaning

This article will try to examine the phenomenon of memorial forests and its role in the creation of Holocaust mem- ory of the Jewish community in Yugoslavia. Our intention is to present the Yugoslav Jewish tradition of planting memorial for- ests and analyze its symbolical background. The Martyrs’ For- est in Israel will be used as an example of newly-founded place of remembrance, and considering that, the main aim of the arti- cle is to show, in comparison with other examples, what kind of symbolical rituals were used to provide a historical context and legitimacy for new memorials.

The Elusive Balkan Spark: 28 June 1914, Again and Always

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo justifiably continues to attract the attention of historians as one of the key events in the history of the modern world. This review essay examines several recent scholarly contributions published in a collection of essays devoted to the theme. It highlights the ongoing controversies and contradictory interpretations surrounding the subject.

The Third Path into the Twilight? Corruption in Socialist Yugoslavia

Corruption in socialist Yugoslavia was a specific phenomenon when compared to the inter-war period or to post-socialism. In contrast to liberalism, communist ideology did not support an understanding of corruption as a problem of its own but tended to see political and material “deviations” as originating from the same root – i. e., from a lack of political morale. The League of Communists failed to live up to its role as an educator of society, since it was trapped between declarative moral rigorism and the fact that material need and greed could be satisfied best by becoming a party member.

Yugoslav Communists and Belgian Socialists 1950–1956

This paper covers a somewhat forgotten theme in the Yugoslav foreign policy during the Cold War – the relation between Yugoslav Communists and Belgian Socialists in the early 1950s. The research for this topic was carried out mainly on the basis of unpublished archived resources of Yugoslav provenance, as well as adequate academic, historiographical, and other related publications.

Gender Policies of the Yugoslav State in the Context of Socialism

This paper examines official gender policies in the Yugoslav socialist context, primarily through the egalitarian socialist legislation, the prevailing discourse on the equality of men and women on which they relied, the projected values around which the social identity of women was constructed, the pillars recognized as central points of emancipation, but also through the means of their realization, the intertwining of gender policies and existing cultural practices as well as the (dis)continuity of female subordination in gender relations in socialist everyday life. In the same context, the paper discusses socialist women’s organizations, as well as the emergence of neo-feminism. The paper summarizes our previous research and draws on it, refers to other pertinent works and research, and documentation, shaping the picture of gender policies of the socialist Yugoslav state.

Yugoslavia and General Election in Italy in 1948

The paper deals with Yugoslav perceptions of the 1948 general election in Italy. The research focuses primarily on reports of the Yugoslav legation in Rome, which closely monitored the election campaign as well as the consequences of this watershed in the Cold War phase of Italian history. The Yugoslav sources cast a light on the strategies of the principal protagonists in the Italian political turmoil in April 1948.

Serbia and Southeastern Europe between Global and East European History

Drawing on a half century of Balkan research and publication that started in Belgrade, John Lampe reviews three new Western histories of the region and their attention to Serbia from prominent Western historians. Germany’s Calic examines only Southeastern Europe, while Connelly from the US and Bideleux and Jeffries from the UK include the Balkans in their volumes on Eastern Europe.

Land Property Regime According to the Vidovdan Constitution and the Agrarian Question in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

Тhe paper discusses the attitudes of political parties on land property regimes in the context of the agrarian issue, and dynamics of the debate on this matter in the Constitutional Committee and in the Constituent National Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The very notion of “agrarian question” concerns specifically small peasant landholdings in the process of development of capitalism. This question was raised in the context of the debate on socio-economic problems that were invited by, and eventually, introduced into the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Vidovdan Constitution, 1921) under the pressure of progressive opposition parties and parts of the ruling political organizations.