The Legacy of Yugoslavia: Politics, Economics and Society in the Modern Balkans - Paperback

by Othon Anastasakis (Editor), Adam Bennett (Editor), David Madden (Editor)

What are the consequences of Yugoslavia's existence - and breakup - for the present? This book reflects on this very question, identifying and analysing the political legacies left behind by Yugoslavia through the prism of continuities and ruptures between the past and present of the area.

After the collapse of Yugoslavia, it's former states adopted a nation-building process which opted to eradicate the past as such an approach seemed more convenient for the new national projects. The new states adopted new institutions, new market-oriented economic paradigms and new national symbols. Yugoslavia existed for 70 years and to consider the current political situation in post-Yugoslav states such as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo without taking into account the legacy and remnants of Yugoslavia is to discount a vital part of their political history.

This volume takes a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to examining the legacy of Yugoslavia, covering politics, society, international relations and economics. Focusing on distinctive features of Yugoslavia including worker self-management, the combination of liberalism and communism and the Cold War policy of Non-Alignment, The Legacy of Yugoslaviaplaces Yugoslaviain historical perspective and connects the region's past with its contemporary political situation.

Author Biography

Adam Bennett is Deputy Director of the Political Economy of Financial Markets (PEFM) program and an Associate of SEESOX at the European Studies Centre, UK. He also lectures (on a part-time external basis) at Cardiff University. Prior to joining St. Antony's College, Bennett worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from which he retired in 2011.

Adis Merdzanovic is a postdoctoral Junior Research Fellow at South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) at the European Studies Centre of St Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK.

David Madden is the Chair of the SEESOX Steering Committee and Distinguished Friend of St Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK. A member of the UK Diplomatic Service for 34 years, he
has extensive experience of working in and with countries and places on the brink of break-up, those seriously divided, and those where regional tensions run high. He was successively British High Commissioner in Cyprus, and Ambassador in Athens before retiring in 2004.

Othon Anastasakis is the Director of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) and Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's College, UK. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He is the Principal Investigator of the SEESOX Greek Diaspora Project.