SRPSKI PUT U GRAĐANSKU NORMALNOST/NORMALNU DRŽAVNOST
THE SERBIAN ROAD TO CIVIL NORMALITY/NORMAL STATESHIP

Author(s): Milan Podunavac
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Civil Society, Governance, Government/Political systems, Electoral systems, Politics and society, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: order; disorder; legitimacy; identification deficit; constitution; statehood; dual state; consensus; nationalism; constitutional patriotism
Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the political dynamics in Serbia in the last decade of the last century. There is an effort to reconstruct the process of destruction and restoration of order. The basic core of the political order in the former Yugoslavia was the system of charismatic authority and charismatic legitimacy. After the destruction of that order, a regime (defined as disorder, as opposed to order) was established in Serbia marked by usurpation, corruption, Caesarism, the use of propaganda and the creation of fear. The "great change" brought about by the overthrow of that regime was a constitutional chance that the political and civil society in Serbia did not take advantage of, just as it did not take advantage of the wide possibilities of constitutional elections. In conclusion, an analysis of the reasons for the failure to establish modern statehood in Serbia is given. Representing the normative point of view that there is a generic connection between the modern state and polyarchy (constitutional democracy), it is shown on which assumptions the establishment of modern statehood is possible. The establishment of a modern order based on the formative principles of law is possible only in an orderly state. Only on these foundations is it possible to shape the institutions and values ​​of constitutional democracy (freedom, limited and controlled power, democratic legitimacy), which is designated as the summum bonum of a well-ordered community. The formation of a basic consensus on liberal values ​​would enable the construction of a minimal framework for a modern state.

• Details
• Contents