5 - A failed transition: the case of Serbia

Summary

Five years after the first free elections in postwar Serbia, the stated aim of most of its political actors there is still a true transition to democracy. The reason for this is simple. Although Serbia has the structures and institutions necessary for democratic government, there is no democratic culture. Instead, Slobodan Milošević has governed in an authoritarian manner in the name of the Serbian nation. The Serbian opposition offers little but the rhetorical promise of bringing liberal democracy to the state, and any politician wishing to succeed must offer a vision for the defense of Serbs from a variety of threats, real and unreal. Serbia's minorities, which constitute about a third of its population, have been excluded from politics by this political culture of intolerance. Today, the only positive sign for the future is the fact that the wars in Croatia and Bosnia are (at least temporarily) over, which might enable Serbian political leaders to attempt to broaden their appeal to non-Serbs.

There are numerous reasons for the failed transition in Serbia. Firstly, it is a product of historical conditions and rivalries in the former Yugoslavia. The ethnic nationalism that links all of the most popular and most powerful parties in Serbia today has roots in the Second World War, during which Serbs were the target of attempted genocide by the Croatian Ustaša. Secondly, it is a result of conditions related directly to the wars accompanying Yugoslavia's collapse.