Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States : One Hundred Years of Citizenship

"Between 1914 and the present day the political makeup of the Balkans has relentlessly changed, following unpredictable shifts of international and internal borders. Between and across these borders various political communities were formed, co-existed and (dis)integrated. By analysing one hundred years of modern citizenship in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, Igor Štiks shows that the concept and practice of citizenship is necessary to understand how political communities are made, un-made and re-made. He argues that modern citizenship is a tool that can be used for different and opposing goals, from integration and re-unification to fragmentation and ethnic engineering. The study of citizenship in the 'laboratory' of the Balkands offers not only an original angle to narrate an alternative political history, but also an insight into the fine mechanics and repeating glitches of modern politics, applicable to multinational states in the European Union and beyond."--Bloomsbury Publishing. The second chapter brings an answer the question of why Yugoslavia was brought back to life as a multinational and socialist federation, after a politically disastrous experience in the inter-war period and its complete disappearance during the Second World War. Almost hundred years of Marxist debates on the national question resounded heavily within different factions of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. What is called here ?the federalist formula for the socialist re-unification of Yugoslavia? proved, eventually, to be an effective tool and possibly the most decisive element of the communist-led Resistance?s victory in the Second World War. Eric Hobsbawm once remarked that ?each Communist party was the child of the marriage of two ill-assorted partners, a national Left and the October revolution. That marriage was based both on love and convenience? (2001: 3). In other words, it was the marriage between the specific national circumstances that required a corresponding political strategy and the imperative of a Moscow-led world revolution and, as was often the case, its own particular state interests. The two agendas did not always go hand in hand and the outcome of any clash between them was usually detrimental to the political position of national Communist parties within their own societies. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia was not an exception to the rule until its break with Stalin in 1948. However, classic (im)balances between nationalism and internationalism in the communist struggles in South-Slavic lands took the form of a complex relationship between separate ethnic nationalisms (Serb, Croatian and Slovene), Yugoslavism that would later on be turned into a specific South-Slavic inter-nationalism, Balkan regionalism and global internationalism. In order to properly answer the question of why Yugoslavia was re-unified as a socialist multinational federation in 1945 and how an entirely different conception of citizenship was actually developed through decades of theoretical and political struggles, one must first examine the history of two intellectual and political traditions that shaped the discussions, opinions, political meandering and, ultimately, the decisions of Yugoslav communists: on the one hand, Marxist tradition and the debates within the Marxist movement on the national question and the form of the socialist state, and, on the other, Yugoslavism as the ideology of South-Slavic national and political unity. For more than a century and a half the relationship between Marxism and nationalism was at different times either conflicted or complementary. The conflicts between the two ideologies that grew significantly around the same 38time in the nineteenth century were a matter of principle. The complementarities between them, on the other hand, were more the product of historical and political realism. Nationalism was not a phenomenon destined to wither away so soon, as Marxists had predicted and hoped, and ignorance of this bitter fact would prove politically harmful. Marxists thus had to learn how to come to terms with nationalism and even how to manipulate it for their own ends (Connor 1984: 6). In addition, nationalists of various stripes equally learned how to manipulate demands for social justice and equality for their own agenda. South-Slavic Marxists found themselves, ideologically and politically, in a rather confusing situation. From the very outset, they had to face two opponents who appeared in the guise of nationalism and had to be either fought or accommodated: the separate South-Slavic ethnic nationalisms on the one hand and, on the other, Yugoslavism that aspired to unite linguistically and culturally similar South Slavs in a common state. On the plane of ideology, Marxists had to overcome the philosophical incompatibility between the internationalist class struggle and local nationalist demands which cut across class lines. In the South-Slavic lands, the task was even more complex as two parallel nationalist movements ? one seeking higher Yugoslav unity, the other arguing for the separate political autonomy of ethnic groups ? often complemented one another, but at other times were in open conflict. Moreover, the political and territorial ambitions entailed by the various ethnic nationalisms often collided with each other. Eventually, as elsewhere, a marriage of necessity brought the two together. Yugoslav communists had to acknowledge that nationalism was a potent political force. They thus continued searching for a political project that could successfully combine both social and national emancipation in the context of developed and often mutually exclusive national projects of neighbouring groups. In this chapter, I show how the Yugoslav communists ?discovered? the successful federalist formula for the socialist re unification of Yugoslavia after the Second World War as well as how, as with any ?successful? formula, its discovery was preceded by numerous fruitless experiments The final chapter brings to the scene the European Union whose influence in shaping the post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes and the lives of their citizens is highly significant. Today the region is divided into the EU members and the potential candidates for membership. When it comes to the EU?s role in influencing, shaping, defining and re-defining the citizenship regimes in the post-Yugoslav region, this chapter shows how diverse the EU?s actions and results are and how often, alongside obvious improvements, they appear problematic, counterproductive or fruitless. The chapter focuses on five major ways whereby the EU itself (mis)manages these citizenship regimes and their citizens: (a) direct intervention and supervision such as in Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia; (b) the visa liberalization process in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia; (c) the pre-accession influence in Croatia (until 2013), Serbia and Montenegro; (d) the post-accession influence in EU members Croatia (after 2013) and Slovenia, and, finally, (e) the influence exerted by individual EU Member States (Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria and, after 2013, Croatia) on non-EU post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes. The final chapter in the story of one hundred years of citizenship in and after Yugoslavia brings to the scene another powerful player whose influence in shaping the post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes and influencing the lives of their citizens is far from insignificant. The EU has been the most powerful political and economic agent in this region that has effectively divided it into the EU members and the potential candidates for membership. The former Yugoslav space overlaps with the so-called Western Balkans, a changing geopolitical construct forged in Brussels, composed of those former Yugoslav republics that have not joined the EU so far plus Albania. The?Western Balkans? approach as an umbrella term for the countries outside the EU but completely encircled by the EU, though the Schengen border moves much slower, hides the fact that, regardless of the EU membership, Slovenia is still deeply involved with its southern neighbours and Croatia remains one of the most important actors in the former Yugoslav space. One could say that?Yugoslavia? in this respect has disappeared as a political entity but not as a geopolitical space. The EU does not only directly influence its members (Slovenia and Croatia), supervises the Western Balkan candidates??negotiations? being a euphemism for a one-way communication amounting to the huge translation operation of the acquis communautaire? but it actually maintains there two semi-protectorates (Bosnia and Kosovo). It has developed varied approaches: bilaterally negotiating membership (Croatia before 2013, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania), punishing and rewarding (Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania), managing (Bosnia), governing (Kosovo) and, finally, ignoring (Macedonia blocked in the name dispute with Greece). The EU in the Balkans is therefore not only a club that tests its candidates. It is an active player in transforming them, politically, socially and economically. David Chandler concludes that?the EU?s discourse of governance enables it to exercise a regulatory power over the 174candidate member states of Southeastern Europe while evading any reflection on the EU?s own management processes, which are depoliticized in the framing of the technocratic or administrative conditions of enlargement? (2010: 69). If the EU basically builds future or potential member states, then we have to ask how the EU manages both citizenship regimes of the post-Yugoslav states and their citizens Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: A Balkan Laboratory of Citizenship A century of dis/integrations Citizenship and citizenship regime In Yugoslavia, and after: Citizenship as research field, citizenship as battlefield Citizenship as a political history of Yugoslavia and the post-Yugoslav states Part 1: From National Integration to the First Disintegration 1 Brothers United: The Making of Yugoslavs Brothers as aliens: From Yugoslavism to Yugoslavia Brothers as citizens: The belated birth of Yugoslav citizenship Precarious birth, fragile existence and the brutal death of the first Yugoslavia 2 Revolutionary Brothers: The Communist Formula for Yugoslavia Yugoslav communists: Solving the national question Wartime: Enemies or brothers? From brothers in arms to federated citizens Part 2: From Socialist Re-Integration to the Second Disintegration 3 Brothers Re-United! Federal Citizenship in Socialist Yugoslavia Centralist federalism, 1945–1967 Bifurcated citizenship Self-management, decentralization and citizenship 4 Brothers as Partners: Centrifugal Federalism, Confederal Citizenship and Complicated Partnership Centrifugal federalism, 1967–1974 From federal to confederal citizenship Broken partnership: From confederal citizenship towards crisis 5 The Bridges Over the Miljacka: The Long Farewell to Yugoslav Citizenship Yugoslavism: Fading of an idea Yugoslavia: Only a matter of interests? Code red: Turning citizens into enemies Part 3: From Nationalist Disintegration to War 6 Partners into Competitors: Divisive Democracy and Conflicting Conceptions of Citizenship Democracy and nationalism Citizens as voters: Democratize and divide A secret handshake between nationalism and electoral democracy 7 Where is My State? Citizenship as a Factor in Yugoslavia’s Disintegration So, why did it happen? Relevant factors of Yugoslavia’s disintegration The citizenship factor 8 Enemies: Citizenship as a Trigger of Violence The dark side of 1989: Violence in post-socialist Europe Triggers of violence: Citizenship, borders and territories, and the role of the federal military Conclusion: The price of war Part 4: From Ethnic Engineering to European Re-Integration? 9 From Equal Citizens to Unequal Groups: The Post-Yugoslav Citizenship Regimes The citizenship conundrum in post-socialist Europe Ethnic engineering after Yugoslavia: The included, the invited, the excluded and the self-excluded Enemies into neighbours: Unconsolidated and overlapping citizenship regimes Concluding remarks: From ethnic engineering to ethnic democracies 10 Partners Again? The European Union and the Post-Yugoslav Citizens The EU’s direct and limited influences Five ways to (mis)manage the post-Yugoslav citizenship regimes Partners, or just neighbours? Epilogue: The Citizenship Argument – Why Are We in This Together? Notes Bibliography Index This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com.Between 1914 and the present day the political makeup of the Balkans has relentlessly changed, following unpredictable shifts of international and internal borders. Between and across these borders various political communities were formed, co-existed and (dis)integrated.By analysing one hundred years of modern citizenship in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, Igor Štiks shows that the concept and practice of citizenship is necessary to understand how political communities are made, un-made and re-made. He argues that modern citizenship is a tool that can be used for different and opposing goals, from integration and re-unification to fragmentation and ethnic engineering. The study of citizenship in the'laboratory'of the Balkands offers not only an original angle to narrate an alternative political history, but also an insight into the fine mechanics and repeating glitches of modern politics, applicable to multinational states in the European Union and beyond. Between 1914 and the present day the political makeup of the Balkans has relentlessly changed, following unpredictable shifts of international and internal borders. Between and across these borders various political communities were formed, co-existed and (dis)integrated. By analysing one hundred years of modern citizenship in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, Igor Štiks shows that the concept and practice of citizenship is necessary to understand how political communities are made, un-made and re-made. He argues that modern citizenship is a tool that can be used for different and opposing goals, from integration and re-unification to fragmentation and ethnic engineering. The study of citizenship in the 'laboratory' of the Balkands offers not only an original angle to narrate an alternative political history, but also an insight into the fine mechanics and repeating glitches of modern politics, applicable to multinational states in the European Union and beyond.-- Provided by publisher

Between 1914 and the present day the political makeup of the Balkans has relentlessly changed, following unpredictable shifts of international and internal borders. Between and across these borders various political communities were formed, co-existed and (dis)integrated. By analysing one hundred years of modern citizenship in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, Igor Štiks shows that the concept and practice of citizenship is necessary to understand how political communities are made, un-made and re-made. He argues that modern citizenship is a tool that can be used for different and opposing goals, from integration and re-unification to fragmentation and ethnic engineering. The study of citizenship in the 'laboratory' of the Balkands offers not only an original angle to narrate an alternative political history, but also an insight into the fine mechanics and repeating glitches of modern politics, applicable to multinational states in the European Union and beyond.

Between 1914 and the present day the political makeup of the Balkans has relentlessly changed, following unpredictable shifts of international and internal borders. Between and across these borders various political communities were formed, co-existed and (dis)integrated. By analysing one hundred years of modern citizenship in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, Igor #x8A; tiks shows that the concept and practice of citizenship is necessary to understand how political communities are made, un-made and re-made. He arguesthat modern citizenship is a tool that can be used for different and opposin