Post-Socialist Ethnic Symbolism, Suppression of Yugoslav Social Memory, and Radical Populism Psychology

Year 2023, , 141 - 163, 20.12.2023

Faruk Hadžić

https://doi.org/10.26650/JECS2021-1036112

Abstract

The paper argues that post-socialist neoliberal democracy is hindered by the exposed or conditioned ethnic symbolic radical populism, particularly in the post-Yugoslav ethnonationalism political behavior. Moreover, the approach toward the fascist ideology symbols disregards the communist social memory of stability and human security and a collectivism-oriented community. Neoliberal globalization has strengthened national identities, supported by the war-related creation of ethnic homogenous territories. Consequently, former Yugoslavia’s historical conflicting memory cultures from WW2 to the Yugoslav wars present enduring processes within sociopolitical ethnic-religious traditions. The collective historical and social memory that forms people’s identities is manipulated, falsified, reduced, and politically instrumentalized. Contemporary ethnic-symbolic politics communicate through conservative political orientations: re-traditionalism behavior (including some left-wingers) advocates public acceptance. Historical anti-fascism actors have been stigmatized within attitudes toward fascist ideology symbolism and traditional Balkan sociopolitical mythologies. Frequent use of (often) antagonistic ethnic symbolism in textual, rhetorical and visual forms expresses it. Various methods of conducting historical revisionism in the symbolic and ideological vocations decrease Yugoslavia’s social memory. Institutional and non-institutional engagement is normatively needed in a battle for correct memory. Citizens’ participation in political decision-making outside the ethnoreligious paradigm is crucial. The consequence of populist political orders in ethnoreligious partitioned post-socialism is ethnic-symbolic collectivism. It oppresses individual identity and excludes the possibility of distinct classification. Contemporary notions of autonomy and mind, adapted to modern society, provide a theoretical framework for formulating political strategies in a post-national context. Acquisitive components of civil society and the society’s stagnation due to slow consolidation can abruptly transform into political apathy motivating violent disorder. Accordingly, many sociopolitical realities symbolize and indicate that "democratized" post-socialist and post-Yugoslav states are more "inadequate" and "ineffective" than Yugoslavia.

Keywords

post-socialism, ethnic symbolism, radical populism, political psychology, Yugoslav social memory, ethnopolitics, historical revisionism

References

• Assmann, J. (2012). Cultural Memory and Early Civilization, Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination, UK, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Baker, C. (2016). Sounds of the Borderland, Popular Music, War and Nationalism in Croatia since 1991, London: Ruthledge. google scholar
• Bajtal, E. (2009). Psihosocijalni kontekst politickih elitauBiH [Psychosocial context of political elites inB&H], In D. Abazovic (Eds.), Politicka elita u Bosni i Hercegovini i evropska unija: odnos vrijednosti, B&H, Sarajevo: Institut za drustvena istrazivanja Fakulteta politickih nauka Univerziteta u Sarajevu. google scholar
• Basis, G. (2015). Policy of Multiculturalism in Serbia: Between Legal Confusion and Social Segregation. In G. Basic, M. Zagar & S. Tatalovic (Eds.), Od segregativne ka integrativno politici multikulturalnosti [From segregative to integrative politics of multiculturalism], Serbia, Beograd: Centar za istrazivane etniciteta. google scholar
• Basic G. (2017), Populizam [Populism], Serbia, Beograd: Institut drustvenih nauka, Centar za politikoloska istrazivanja i javno mjenje. google scholar
• Beglerovic, N. (2020). Milorad Dodik’s Use of Contentious Rhetoric in (De)constructing Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Identity: A Discourse-Historical Analysis, NL, Masaryk: Masaryk University. google scholar
• Butler, F. (2016). How Yugoslavia was Syrianized 25 years ago. Modern Diplomacy. https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2016/03/04/how-yugoslavia-was-syrianized-25-years-ago/ google scholar
• Bieber, F. (2021). The Rise of Authoritarianism in the Western Balkans, New Perspectives on South-East Europe, USA, New York: Springer International Publishing. google scholar
• Bieber, F. (2018). Patterns of competitive authoritarianism in the Western Balkans, East European Politics, 34 (3):337-354 https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2018.1490272 google scholar
• Biti, V. (1997). Pojmovnik suvremene knjizevne teorje [Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory]. Croatia, Zagreb: Matica Hrvatska. google scholar
• Bosto, S. & Cipek, T. (2009). Predgovor, In S. Bosto & T. Cipek (Eds.), Kultura sjecanja: 1945., Croatia, Zagreb: Biblioteka Srednji. Retrieved from put https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/sarajevo/06914.pdf google scholar
• Capo, J. (2015). Prijepori oko naslijeda proslosti i memorija u Hrvatskoj: znanstveno-popularna publikacija pod pritiskom ideologija, Stud. ethnol. Croat., 27, 5-129. 10.17234/SEC.27.3 google scholar
• Ciric, M. (2018, April 18). Zasto Vucic cuti o presudi Seselju? [Why is Vucic silent about Seselj’s verdict?]. Balkaninsight. Retrieved from https://balkaninsight.com/2018/04/18/za%C5%A1to-vu%C4%8Di%C4%87-%C4%87uti-o-presudi-%C5%A1e%C5%A1elju-04-17-2018/? lang=sr google scholar
• Cipek, T. (2019). Historjski revizionizam u Bosni i Hercegovini, Socjaldemokratska politika sjecanja izmedu dva totalitarizma, B&H, Sarajevo: Friedrich Erbert Stifung. google scholar
• Cipek, T. (2009). Remembering 1945: Saving and Erasing. On the power of family narratives, In S. Bosto & T. Cipek (Eds.), Culture of Memory: 1945. Historical Breaks and Overcoming the Past, Croatia, Zagreb: Disput. google scholar
• Cottam, M., Mastors, E., Preston, T. & Dietz, B. (2016). Introduction to Political Psychology 3rd Edition, USA, New York: Routledge. google scholar
• Duda, D. (2010). Hrvatski knjizevni bajkomat [Croatian literary bajkomat], Croatia, Zagreb: Disput. google scholar
• Dimitrova, D. (2012). Whose is this song. Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/betabandable/videos google scholar
• Ellul, J. (2021). Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes Kindle Edition, USA, New York: Vintage. google scholar
• Francis F. (2018) Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux google scholar
• Freeden, M. (2006) Ideology and political theory, Journal of Political Ideologies, 11, 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310500395834 google scholar
• Gellner, E. (2009). Nations and Nationalism (New Perspectives on the Past) Second Edition, Ithaca: Cornell University Press google scholar
• GlasSrpske, (2021, June 222). U Puli Titov spoemnik isaran ustaskim simbolima I porukama. google scholar
• https://www.glassrpske.com/lat/novosti/svjet/u-puli-titov-spomenik-isaran-ustaskim-simbolima-i-porukama/366191 google scholar
• Habermas, J. (1998). Die postnationale Konstellation: Politische Essays, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag google scholar
• Hadzic, F. (2020). The Politicization of Religion and the Sacralized Balkan Nations Regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 40 (7), 105-131 https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree google scholar
• Hadzic, F. (2021). Global nationalism accumulation, value preservation, and anti-nationalism succession; circumstances of endangerment and discrepancy. Academia Letters, 1639. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1639 google scholar
• Hadzic, F., (2021). Social And Political (The Others) Exclusions Within The Post-Yugoslav Ethnonational Insttututionalizatoon In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Birey ve Toplum Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, [Individual & Society Journal of Social Science], 11, 171-195. https://doi.org/10.20493/birtop.923746 google scholar
• Hadzic, F. (2021). Agnosticism and Atheism as Amoralism and Anti-Ideological Sociopolitical Paradigm in the Balkans, Specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 41(2), 68-85. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree google scholar
• Hadzic F. (2020) The global context of authoritarian populism as democratic pylon to Fascism, and a tutorial from the Balkans, Journal of Scientific Papers “Social Development and Security”, 10, 66-77. 10.33445/sds.2020.10.6.7 google scholar
• Heywood, A. (2014), Global politics, UK, London: Palgrave Macmillan. google scholar
• Hromadzic, H. (2020). Historizacija tranzicije - slucaj (post) jugoslavenskog prostora, Soc. ekol. Zagreb, 29, 82-95. 10.17234/SocEkol.29.1.4 google scholar
• Ivancic, V. (2017, Aprl 19). Kako ne biti Jugosloven [How not to be Yugoslav]. Pescanik. Retrieved from https://pescanik.net/kako-ne-biti-jugoslaven/ google scholar
• Iseric, H. (2018). The role of the Constitutional Court in achieving peace in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society, In J. Brand (Eds.), Proceedings: Politike izgradnje mira u regionu: opterecenja proslosti i vizije buducnosti [Proceedings: Politics of building peace in the region: Burdens from the past and visions for the future]. B&H, Sarajevo: ForumZFD. google scholar
• Jahic, A. (2020). Politika identiteta kao forma politickog populizma [The politics of identity as a form of political populism], in: Populizam, izabrane teme [Populism, selected topics], Tuzla: Multi google scholar
• Jeremic, J. & Jayasundara. S. (2022). Long after Dayton: a journey through visual representations of War and Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 22(3), 335-360. doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2022.2035486 google scholar
• Jezici i nacionalizmi, (2022). Declaration, Retrieved from http://jezicinacionalizmi.com/deklaracja/ google scholar
• Karabegovic, Dz. (2017, December 22). „Hrvatske vode Srpskih suma,“ Slobodna Europa. Retrieved from https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/hrvatske-vode-srpskih-suma/28931610.html google scholar
• Kirin, R. (2009). Rodni aspekti socjalisticke politike pamcenja drugoga svjetskog rata, In S. Bosto & T. Cipek (Eds.), Kultura sjecanja: 1945., Croatia, Zagreb: Biblioteka Srednji put. google scholar
• Krastev, I. (2013). S verom u nepoverenje: Moze li demokratija da opstane kada ne verujemo svojim liderima [With faith in distrust: Can democracy survive when we do not trust our leaders], Beograd, Klio: Beogradski fond za politicku izuzetnost. google scholar
• Kovacevic, D. (2019, August 14). Dodik Threatens Drastic Action Over Bosnian Govt Delays. Balkaninsight. Retrived from https://balkaninsight.com/2019/08/14/dodik-threatens-drastic-action-over-bosnian-govt-delays/ google scholar
• Lutovac, Z. & Markovic K. (2017). Opasni (nezeljeni) drugi i populizam u Srbji [Dangerous (unwanted) others and populism in Serbia], Serbia, Beograd: Institut drustvenih nauka. google scholar
• Markovina, D. (2015). Povjest porazenih [History of the defeated].Croatia, Zagreb: Jesenski Turk. google scholar
• Milas, G. (2007). Temeljne osobine licnosti i neki vidovi politickoga ponasanja [Basic personality traits and some types of political behavior]. Drustvena istrazivanja, 87, 27-49. https://hrcak.srce.hr/18919 google scholar
• Mudde, C. (2000). The ideology of the extreme right, Manchester, Manchester: Manchester University Press. google scholar
• Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. UK; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. google scholar
• Muller, J. (2016). What Is Populism? USA, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. google scholar
• Net.hr, (2009, October 19). Zeljko Kerum. Net.hr. Retrieved from https://net.hr/vjesti/hrvatska/page/2009/10/19/0640006.html google scholar
• Oberschall, A. (2009). Nationalist Propaganda of Vojislav Seselj: Content, Techniques, Goals and Effects, 1990-1994. In Editor(s) Biserko. S -of book The Process of Vojislav Seselj: Disclosure of the Great Serbia Project, Zagreb: Biblioteka Svjedocanstva. google scholar
• Outhwaite, W. and Larry, R. (2005). Social Theory and Postcommunism, USA, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. google scholar
• Pajni, M. (2019). Populizam se poput kameleona prilagodava razlicitim politickim ciljevima google scholar
• [Populism, like a chameleon, adapts to different political goals]. Voxfeminae. Retrieved from https://voxfeminae.net/pravednost/mojca-pajnik-populizam-se-poput-kameleona-prilagodava-razlicitim-politickim-ciljevima/ google scholar
• Pavelic, B. (2021, December 5). Srpsko-Hrvatsko ispuhivanje genocida [Serbian/Croatian genocide blowing out]. Tacno.net, Retrieved from https://www.tacno.net/novosti/boris-pavelic-srpsko-hrvatsko-ispuhivanje-genocida/ google scholar
• Pavlakovic, V. (2014). Fulfilling the Thousand-Year-Old Dream: Stretegies of Symbolic Nation-Building in Croatia”. In P. Kolsto (Eds.), Strategies of Symbolic Nation-Building in South Eastern Europe, UK, Farnham: Ashgate. google scholar
• Perica, V. (2016, February 19). Hrvatska je danas najjaca scena etnickog i klerikalnog nacionalizma na Balkanu [Croatia is today the biggest scene of ethnic and clerical nationalism in the Balkans]. Radio Gornji Grad. Retrieved from https://radiogornjigrad.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/dr-vjekoslav-pericahrvatska-je-danas-najjaca-scena-etnickog-i-klerikalnog-nacionalizma-na-balkanu/ google scholar
• Predstavnistvo Republike srpske u Srbji, (2021, February 25). [Conference "Republika Srpska facing new challenges"]. Retrieved from http://predstavnistvorsbg.rs/predstavnistvo_rs/index.php/sr/aktuelnosti/najava-dogadjaja/3190-tribina-rs-pred-novim-izazovima.html google scholar
• Ristic, M. (2013, June 25). Jugonostalgja i Titovi spomenici [Yugoslavia and monuments of Tito]. Balkainsight. Retrieved from https://balkaninsight.com/2013/06/25/jugonostalgja-i-titovi-spomenici/?lang=sr google scholar
• RTS, (2009, September 21). Kerum: Ne zelim Srbe i Crnogorce u Splitu [Kerum: I do not want Serbs and Montenegrins in Split]. RTS. Retrieved from https://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/11/region/173701/kerum-ne-zelim-srbe-i-crnogorce-u-splitu.html google scholar
• Stanovsky, D. (2017). Remix Racism: The Visual Politics of the “Alt-Right” Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 7 (2/3), 130-138. http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Stanovsky7_2_3_10.pdf google scholar
• Stathi, S. & Guerra, R. (2021). Unpacking the social psychology of populism: A brief introductory note, Journal of theoretical social psychology, 5 (2), 50-53 10.1002/jts5.98 google scholar
• Smith, K. & Larimer, C. (2009). The Public Policy Theory Primer, USA, Colorado: Westview Press. google scholar
• Salaj, B. & Grbesa, M. (2021, July 7). Ljevi populizam trazi radikalnu demokratizacju socjalnog poretka, google scholar
• desni iz ‘naroda’ iskljucuje djelove stanovnistva [Left populism calls for a radical democratization of the google scholar
• social order; right populism excludes sections of the population from the ‘people]. Vecernji. Retrieved from google scholar
• https://www.vecernji.hr/vjesti/ljevi-populizam-trazi-radikalnu-demokratizacju-socjalnog-poretka-desni-iz-naroda-iskljucuje-djelove-stanovnistva-1505872 google scholar
• Siber, I. (1998). Osnove politicke psihologije [Fundamentals of political psychology], Croatia, Zagreb: Politicka kultura. google scholar
• Siber, I. (2007). Politicko ponasanje. Istrazivanja hrvatskog drustva [Political behavior. Research of Croatian society]. Croatia, Zagreb: Politicka kultura. google scholar
• Slobodna Dalmacija, (2017, November 30). Grabar Kitarovic o presudi hrvatskoj sestorki: Nitko drugi, pa ni Haski sud, nece pisati nasu povjest! [No one else, not even the Hague tribunal, will write our history]. Slobodna Dalmacja. Retrieved from https://slobodnadalmacja.hr/vjesti/hrvatska/grabar-kitarovic-o-presudi-hrvatskoj-sestorki-nitko-drugi-pa-ni-haski-sud-nece-pisati-nasu-povjest -519541. google scholar
• Thomas, J. & Eley, G. (Eds.). (2020). Visualizing Fascism, The Twentieth-Century Rise of the Global Right. USA, Durham: Duke University Press. google scholar
• Thompson, M. (2000) War forging, media in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Beograd: Medja centar Radio B92 google scholar
• Vahtel, E. (1998). Making a Nation, Breaking a Nation: Literature and Cultural Politics in Yugoslavia (Cultural Memory in the Present). USA, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. google scholar
• Vecernji, L. (2017). Planirao sam zabiti glogov kolac u Tita, on je vampir [I wanted to hawthorn stake into Tito graveyard, he is vampire]. https://www.vecernji.ba/vjesti/planirao-sam-zabiti-glogov-kolac-u-tita-on-je-vampir-1172559 google scholar
• Volcic, Z. (2007). Yugo-Nostalgia: Cultural Memory and Media in the Former Yugoslavia, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 24, 21-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180701214496 google scholar
• Wodak. R., De Cillia. R., Reisigl. M., and Liebhart. K. (2009). The Discursive Construction of National Identity, Edinburg: Edinburg University Press. google scholar
• Zuquete, P. (2008). The Missionary Politics of Hugo Chavez, Latin American Politics and Society (50): 91-121 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30130840 google scholar