POLITIKA SJEĆANJA U KONTEKSTU DEKLARACIJE SVESRPSKOG SABORA
THE POLITICS OF MEMORY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DECLARATION OF THE ALL-SERPIAN ASSEMBLY

Author(s): Hikmet Karčić
Subject(s): Governance, Geopolitics, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity
Published by: Institut za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu
Keywords: politics of memory; historical revisionism; Declaration of the All-Serbian Assembly; national identity; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Western Balkans;
Summary/Abstract: This study analyzes the politics of memory in the context of the Declaration of the All-Serbian Assembly as a contemporary normative-discursive framework through which historical events, identity narratives, and political objectives of the Serbian national corpus in the post-Yugoslav space are reinterpreted. Drawing on key theoretical insights, the research examines how the Declaration functions as an instrument for the institutionalization of selective memory and historical revisionism, aimed at homogenizing collective identity and legitimizing specific political claims in the Western Balkans region. Particular attention is devoted to the ways and patterns through which the Declaration establishes continuity with narratives from the 1990s, including interpretations of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the wars, the status of Kosovo, and the position of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Through an analysis of the content of the Declaration, accompanying political statements, and symbolic practices, the study demonstrates how the politics of memory is employed to normalize nationalist discourses, relativize responsibility for war crimes, and reaffirm the idea of a supranational political and cultural unity of the Serbian people. Methodologically, the research is based on qualitative analysis of relevant documents and discourses, supported by engagement with the existing scholarly literature. In conclusion, the study argues that the Declaration of the All-Serbian Assembly represents an important element of a contemporary strategy of symbolic and normative action, through which the politics of memory is instrumentalized as a means of political pressure and the production of long-term “controlled instability” in the region, with significant implications for regional relations and the processes of European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

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