Podržavljenje pluraliteta nacionalnih interesa
Statisation of the Plurality of National Interests

Summary/Abstract: The author focuses on a part of Mirić’s analysis which has been a frequent subject of discussion in Yugoslav social theory: the problem of national interests. The line of demarcation of interest-based differentiation, confrontation and conflict divides various classes and strata, not nations. In contemporary Yugoslav society, however, too much emphasis is placed on interest confrontation and conflict on a "national basis". Whence this tendency? A part of the answer to this lies, in the author’s opinion, in the split between normative and institutional postulates and the actual social relations. It Is the legitimacy of the bureaucratic rule of society that is in a crisis, the manner in which the ruling social position is derived from the normative-institutional system. Due to its class position of "intermediary", who actually no longer "mediates" but rules, bureaucracy strives to establish a broader, class-neutral identification, in order to conceal the narrowness of its class interests. In such a context, the invocation of the "national" proves to be most effective. Activities of this kind lead to the disintegration of both the community and the individual, while, at the same time, establishing false national integration. The author believes that, since 1968, "national interest" in Yugoslavia has functioned predominantly on this level. This poses the crucial question: to what extent is the working class really the hegemon in the articulation and realisation of national interests? In other words, to what extent is it the ruling class of the nations?

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