ИЗМЕЂУ ИДЕОЛОГИЈЕ И ПРОФЕСИЈЕ: РАТНА ШКОЛА, ШКОЛА (ОПШТЕ) НАРОДНЕ ОДБРАНЕ (1955–1990)
BETWEEN THE IDEOLOGY AND PROFESSIONALISAM: YUGOSLAV WAR COLLEGE – NATIONAL DEFENSE COLLEGE (1955–1990)

Author(s): Dalibor Denda
Subject(s): History, Military history
Published by: Institut za strategijska istraživanja
Keywords: Military; education; War College; politics; professionalism
Summary/Abstract: War College (from 1971 National Defense College) of Yugoslav Peoples Army as the highest level of military education and training was established in 1955. It appeared several years after Tito - Stalin split. War College was organized mostly according to previous professional and organizational experiences that existed in the Kingdom of Serbia and Yugoslavia preparing the officers for the highest postс within the Army and Ministry of National Defense. During the first almost 20 years of its existence it managed to achieve and protect at least elementary principles of military professionalism regarding the criteria of candidate selection, level of education and evaluation. At the beginning College was more practically, free-minded and self-initiative then theoretically oriented. Although Socialistic Yugoslavia was one-party state, during the long lasting period ideological subjects were not part of the curriculum. The decrease of professional level of National Defense College starts during the mid-1970’s reaching the lowest level in the period between 1985 and 1989, when the ideological demands prevailed over the professional ones. The main reason should be seen in the fear of the outgoing generation partisan veterans that the young generations will abandon the values they fought for. That caused the increase in the level of communist indoctrination within military educational system and during the selection of future high ranked officers. In that time the high ranked military personnel were trained first of all to defend ideology. Thanks to that, the most of the Military leadership members were not aware how profound were the changes started in 1989 that affected the international order. It also presented the prelude to the tragedy of civil war in SFRY, the scenario for which the army has newer prepared.

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