The Balkan peninsula is a land of contested histories and national strife. For centuries, empires and conquering armies marched across the Balkans to subjugate and occupy. Whether waged by Ottomans, Austrians, Romans, or Nazis, wars and struggles of national liberation were a violent mainstay in this part of Europe. Serbia may be counted among those nations with histories of constant national struggle and hardship. As hostile powers repeatedly attempted to squash Serbian identity, Serbs turned to nationalism in their struggle for survival and independence.
Nationalism in Serbia has been a double-edged sword: it has acted as a unifying force for freedom and liberation on one hand and as a self-destructive force on the other. The Serbian nationalism of the last century prided itself on being conservative in character, with defence of national sovereignty, the preservation of national traditions, faith in the Serbian Orthodox Church, and rejection of leftist internationalism all being core components. Even though ‘nationalism’ remains a terrifying concept for Western elites—especially when it comes to Balkan diplomacy—it is a much more complex issue than they believe, especially in recent times. After years of communist dictatorship, unprecedented losses in war, national humiliation, and other traumatic events, Serbian conservative nationalism has gone in a highly contentious direction.
Today, a variety of political organizations claim to embrace and advance the cause of conservative nationalism. However, the efforts of the people and parties that champion these values have failed to implement core conservative principles. Conservative forces in modern Serbian politics have strayed away from practical policies and have instead become caught up in worthless, sensationalist politics. The drama of modern Serbian politics has distracted and drained from these movements’ proper conservative principles that would work towards social and national sovereignty. If nationalist forces within Serbia wish to stay true to their conservative platform, then they must immediately reassess their interests and the goals that they champion.
Communism, Milosevic, and the Crisis of Post-Yugoslav Balkans
The 20th century has not been the most forgiving for Serbia. War and genocide have shaken this Balkan nation to its core multiple times in the last hundred years, with their effects lingering to this day. Like those of western Europe after the World Wars, traditional Serbian institutions and customs have been undermined in the face of great tragedy and loss. This has paved the way for radical ideologies and other problems to further undermine an already shaken society. The dramatic shifts in Serbian society can first be associated with the end of the Second World War and Serbia’s absorption into communist Yugoslavia.
45 years of communist dictatorship and indoctrination have done significant damage to traditional Serbian values and institutions. To undermine the national consciousness of Serbs, the communists attacked Orthodox Christianity; traditional Serbian cultural memory, such as anything historically important before the communist partisans; and traditional Serbian values and practices, like having large families. The communist government hunted down pre-war Serb nationalists in the Ravna Gora movement, closed churches, harassed and attacked believers in religion, and used the media to indoctrinate citizens in communist values. The communists further conditioned Serbs to have blind loyalty only to an all-powerful party that directed an all-powerful government. All this indoctrination proved to be so effective that many Serbs today still speak highly of the now long-dead Tito and communism.
After the death of Tito in 1980 and the supremacy of the KPJ in 1989, communism nevertheless seemed to persist in another—but at the time unseen—form. The Milosevic regime built upon the communist authoritarian methodology and inflicted upon Serbia an even more profound and unusual effect compared to Tito’s Yugoslavia. Milosevic, for most of his life, was a dedicated communist who only decided to abandon Tito’s ideology in 1987 for opportunistic reasons. Upon seizing absolute power with the demise of communism, Milosevic merged communist autocracy with appeals to Serbian nationalism to justify his continued rule; a Frankenstein monster of an ideology was born.
Unsurprisingly, Milosevic and his Socialist Party of Serbia allowed the security apparatus to kill and harass whomever it wanted, developed a cult of personality, and continued the state monopoly on everything within society. His supposed Serbian nationalism was quite shallow and only appeared when it came to crushing enemies on the battlefield or rallying public support. His promised ‘Greater Serbia,’ which included Kosovo, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, and the Krajina, quickly evaporated amidst the devastation of the war, economic collapse, and national humiliation both locally and internationally. Bosnia and Croatia kept their Serb-inhabited territories; Montenegro seceded in 2006; and Kosovo followed them out in 2008. With this, Greater Serbia was finished. A pessimistic and disgruntled fixation was born from this traumatic loss, and that fixation has persisted and grown amongst many citizens and politicians, including individuals in nationalist conservative politics. There is little in the way of concrete action or thoughtful planning on what to do next in the face of this defeat.
An Empty Conservatism
Modern Serbian society has found itself, like that of many modernizing societies, with a variety of highly contentious social and political issues. Conservatism, from the Western perspective, offers itself as a steadfast and orderly solution to the turbulent and radical change that is often demanded by left-wing politics. However, for such solutions to be implemented, there must not be only theory, but action that brings theory into practice; something that Serbian conservatives have failed to internalize. Low birthrates, decline of the traditional family structure, decline of traditional Serbian cultural practices, decay of the Serbian language, a hedonistic materialist culture that glorifies petty violence, and other issues are cause for great concern. Complaints about these issues have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears within mainstream conservative parties in Serbia.
Like the rest of the West, Serbia is suffering a crisis of the family and of birthrates at a scale unprecedented in history. Families are not having children, and those that do are fleeing the country for better jobs. This demographic crisis threatens the long-term survival of not just the Serbian economy, but the whole nation as well. There has been very little done in response by the government other than a few slogans being thrown around at rallies calling on people to “have more kids.” Conservative nationalists in Serbia have always prided themselves on being ‘pro-family,’ especially around the issues of homosexuality and related gender identity controversies. However, where are the nationalists when it comes to helping families with their struggles in raising children? If defending family interests is part of their platform, then why are they not advocating for more support for families? It will not be foreigners, but Serbians’ disinterest in their own posterity, that will spell Serbia’s decline.
One of the issues that has gained public attention is the hedonistic and petty violence of modern Serbian pop culture. As globalization changed Serbian society, an important effect was the importing of American-style pop culture. Reality television, rap music, western fashion, social media, and other staples of modern Western culture are now extremely popular, but this popularity conceals a dark side. A lot of this hyper-westernized pop culture in Serbia—including TV shows, magazines, and music—display the worst social and moral values possible. A large amount of this mainstream culture glamorizes a flashy, hustler, machismo lifestyle that promotes selfish hedonism and disdain for personal responsibility. Serbian television promotes the worst type of values and content which ranges from abusive and violent reality TV programs to outright soft-core pornography in rap and hip-hop that has become very popular. A whole protest movement, under the name ‘Serbia Against Violence,’ was formed after a school shooting in Belgrade. The movement hopes to bring attention to the moral degeneration of Serbian society. What is unusual is that this movement is dominated by liberal and westernized urbanites. Only a few conservative political movements, with the most prominent being the Dveri party, have taken a stand on the issue when it is not trending in public discourse.
The decline of the Serbian language is one of the least discussed but most disheartening issues. Over the past 25 years, English and Anglo-American culture has greatly influenced not just Serbian society, but the Serbian language, to an unsettling level. Serbs, most often in urban areas, have embraced a mixed Serbian-English vocabulary and social mannerisms over the last couple of decades. It is extremely common to see people combining American English vocabulary with their speech, producing bizarre and even comical loan words. Just as unsettling is the abandoning of the Cyrillic alphabet in Serbian society. In 2014, a survey revealed that 47% of individuals wanted to use Latin script versus 36% who wanted to use Cyrillic script. Serbian linguist Ivan Kljan, commenting on the results of the survey, mentioned that, at this rate, Serbian Cyrillic would become “archaic.” It appears that the modern Serb has done what the Ottomans and Austrians could not have even imagined achieving in centuries: effectively undermined the Cyrillic alphabet.
In the face of all these serious problems, one would expect politically prominent conservatives and nationalists to act on such issues, but that has not occurred. Instead, the current focus of mainstream Serbian conservative nationalist politics is Kosovo and Serbia’s place in NATO versus Russia geopolitics. As described before, these sentiments are fueled by the losses of the 1990s and especially Kosovo’s independence in 2008. Just as in the West, where citizens bemoan the sensationalist focus on identity politics and its distraction from important issues, Serbia faces a similar conundrum. Constantly talking about Kosovo or the 1990s is a fantastic way of stirring outrage that can draw in support or at least attention. However, such concerns are not going to lead anywhere, nor will they contribute towards the goal of defending Serbia’s sovereignty or interests. If nationalists want to see real progress and change in the fight for Serbia’s interests, then there must be a change of plan for what they do and advocate.
Bringing Conservatism into Reality
With the issues of modern Serbian society persisting, now is the moment for nationalist conservatives to take a stand and act on these issues. Serbian mainstream politics has been chasing its tail around the issue of Kosovo and NATO for decades now, with precious little being accomplished. Shallow, sensationalist politics need to be set aside and replaced with a political program that advocates for concrete action instead of rhetoric. The Serbian electorate is already highly apathetic to national politics. This is not helped by the current status-quo in Serbian nationalist parties that has embraced the repellant style of politics conducted at the national level. Voters will have faith in parties and people who put aside the unproductive status quo and address the issues that are affecting people’s lives. Nationalist conservatives must immediately take note of this issue and abjure conduct that invokes the ire of the average voter. When people see that they are working towards issues that mean something, then they understand it as reliable political success.
The actions and activities of the nationalist conservatives must match the ideals for which they claim to stand. As mentioned previously, the Serbian language, family, and society are under threat by both internal problems and the external effects of globalization. It is critical to end the current norm of disinterested neglect and, in its place, to embrace these issues head-on. The social problems of the globalized 21st century world provide nationalist conservatives the opportunity to show that they care about the nation and that they are willing to tackle practical issues that threaten national sovereignty. The constant obsession with the past, and the soft admiration of previous failures like Milosevic or communism, must be put aside to focus on the issues of today. When nationalists recognize this, then they will at last secure, and deserve, the faith and confidence of the people.
