The Continuity of Populism In Serbia: From The 19th to the 21st Century

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century, Serbian populism became a focal point of the politicallife of the country and the dominant social model. Established by the Radical Party and relyingon the ideas of Russian populism, it was manifested in two forms: as social egalitarianism andideological nationalism. A monopolistic party, reliance on Russia, an authoritarian leader,essentialisation of the nation and a striving for the establishment of a great state were the basicforms through which it was manifested. In socialist Yugoslavia the predominant form of populism was the leftist one, emanated through resistance to market reforms and theliberalisation of society. At the time of the breakdown of European socialism, Serbia, at thetime of the so-called antibureaucratic revolution, turned towards radical populism personifiedby Slobodan MiloπeviÊ. That was a time of transformation of leftist and pro-Yugoslav populisminto a predominantly right-wing Serbian populism with an ultranationalist content. The patternestablished in this way has not significantly changed to the present day.