Serbia Since 1989: Politics and Society Under Milosevic and After

This book provides a valuable collection of essays examining the processes and consequences of Serbia’s transformation into the dysfunctional state we see today. Insightful chapters by the editors frame contributions from several respected Balkan experts, providing analysis of how the Milosevic regime rallied many Serbs around nationalist symbols and failed wars. Essays by Sabrina Ramet, James Gow and Milena Michalski seek to explain the effects of war on the Serbian psyche and the processes of political and social decay, while other contributions examine the victims of the regime, such as Kosovar Albanians, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and the Roma population. On several questions, the contributors offer different perspectives, notably the impact of NATO’s bombing campaign on Milosevic. However, as Ramet points out, there is clear consensus regarding the grimness of contemporary Serbian society. Despite the desire for Balkan analysts to see signals that Serbia is turning the corner, it may take a generation before the Milosevic era is fully expunged and the country becomes ‘boring’. Unfortunately, leaders who stand up for liberal principles and reject nationalism have been rare. As Obrad Kesic shows in his chapter on the post-Milosevic era, personal agendas within the ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition have forestalled muchneeded reform. Serbia continues to fascinate, and each contributor seeks to explain why. First, nationalism, all too often chauvinistic, persists in the political sphere. Second is the question of whether Serbian leaders can construct a functional system based on liberal democratic ideals. Indeed, the importance of fostering legitimacy in contemporary Serbia is one of the book’s most important messages. Thomas Jackson