Capitalization of nationalism: Consequences of Abuse of Public Spirit in Serbia

Abstract

Since the time when Serbia was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ), the country has been through very difficult cultural, political and ideological challenges and changes. While the dominant socialist ideology in former Yugoslavia, organized around Tito's idea of "brotherhood and unity", helped to pacify and diminish differences between various ethnic and religious groups, Serbian society during the period of the Miloševic regime has deployed different ideological patterns characterized by national pride, territorial integrity, and the policy of "all Serbs in one country" politics. These ideas were brought together under the banner of securing national and cultural identity, as well as territorial integrity. When discussing dominant political discourses, contemporary societies in the Western Balkans are characterized as societies "in transition", moving from socialism to capitalism and liberal democracy which is often equated with the path to the European Union. If we're to discuss the new geopolitics of Western Balkans, we cannot avoid discussing the nationalism and it's own rigid framework formed during the eighties and all the consequent mutations thereof. The direct corellation between nationalism as an ideology and it's applications either through policy or...