ЗЕМЉОДЕЛСКА ШКОЛА У ТОПЧИДЕРУ И ВИЗИЈА ИЛИЈЕ ГАРАШАНИНА О ДРЖАВИ БЛАГОСТАЊА
THE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL IN TOPČIDER AND ILIJA GARAŠANIN’S VISION OF A WELFARE STATE

Summary/Abstract: One of the several state projects launched during the time of the Defenders of the Constitution was the founding of the Agricultural School in Topčider, at the beginning of 1853. Only six years afterwards, the school was declared a complete failure and closed down. The fall of the Defenders of the Constitution regime and the complete change of political atmosphere led to the closure of most of the projects initiated by Ilija Garašanin. The fate of the Agricultural School was a proof that even a basically noble attempt, receiving great support, could be unsuccessful. The belief that the cadets of the Agricultural School would become the beacons of the general agricultural progress and prosperity of the Serbian village, was just another misconception informing the agenda of the Defenders of the Constitution. The idea that the Serbian peasant could be trained and educated in technocratic methods and police-style discipline, was a great illusion and the ultimate hybrid notion of the Defenders of the Constitution. It was only abandoned at the moment when the political regime of the Defenders of the Constitution collapsed, after the decisions of the St. Andrew’s Assembly to restore the Obrenović dynasty to the Serbian throne.

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