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Elusive Compromise: A History of Interwar Yugoslavia
Before Tito's Yugoslavia, which disintegrated violently in the 1990s, there was another Yugoslav state. This book is about the original, interwar Yugoslavia (1918-41), and is based on the author's research in Croatian, Serbian, British and American archives and on extensive study of published sources. Unlike other scholars, Dejan Djoki argues that the period can be best understood through an analysis of attempts to reach a Serb-Croat compromise. Historians have long recognised the Croats' rejection of state centralism, but Djoki shows that many Serbs had also accepted federalism by the mid-1930s. Djoki challenges the popular perception of the period as one of constant conflict between Serbs and non-Serbs and argues that the political mismanagement of the country paved the way for the radicalisation of the war years (1941-5) and the subsequent communist takeover. Although primarily a study of conflict management in a multinational state, the book provides an insight into the effects of politics on 'ordinary' people. "Elusive Compromise" places Yugoslavia in the context of a Europe-wide struggle between democracy and dictatorship, and contributes to an understanding of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and other multinational states.
- GenresHistory
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 26, 2022
This book looks at interwar Yugoslavia, in terms of the political conflict between Serbs and Croats, and how they were not able to come to a compromise that might have protected the state during World War II. This book is similar to one that I recently read about Transylvania, in terms of being very detailed and providing significant in depth material on the political and social movements of the time, but being a bit too detailed for the general reader. This author does a better job of explaining and analyzing the broader political goals of the Serbs (and how those conflicted with others in their kingdom). However, there were significant radical and terrorist movements across Yugoslavia at the time (including two that conspired to assassinate the king in 1934), and the author barely talks about them. Instead, he is very focused on the politicians and other leaders and their attempts to forge political compromise. This is interesting, but the book would have benefitted from a broader historical perspective.
March 20, 2023
A strictly political history of the forgotten interwar years of Yugoslavia. Documenting all the players, alliances and compromises made, the book has much to teach about the basics of politicking. It’s almost like a lesson on how politics works, and on that account seeing all the pieces move is fascinating. So much unexpected drama…. But despite the author’s intentions in the beginning, it is sorely missing any analysis of social history, aside from sparse mentions of crowds which justifies the political action “of above” (plus some scattered stories of political violence).
In some sense, having read this I now better understand how politics functioned in the interwar years: that tepid compromise, sometimes even for its own sake, and the federalism v. centralism debate that played out again later between 1945-1991. When the book does deliver, it really gets your attention. For example, the book recounts how the people were “tired of politics” which is why they surprisingly welcomed the January 6 dictatorship of 1929.
But still, having read this, do I really now understand how the interwar years in Yugoslavia were actually lived, grasping it more broadly? Not really. And considering the vast majority at this time were peasants, this exclusive focus on politicking seems a bit narrow. But perhaps that is precisely what this book set out to do. Yet for my purposes, I was left wanting more…..
3.5/5
In some sense, having read this I now better understand how politics functioned in the interwar years: that tepid compromise, sometimes even for its own sake, and the federalism v. centralism debate that played out again later between 1945-1991. When the book does deliver, it really gets your attention. For example, the book recounts how the people were “tired of politics” which is why they surprisingly welcomed the January 6 dictatorship of 1929.
But still, having read this, do I really now understand how the interwar years in Yugoslavia were actually lived, grasping it more broadly? Not really. And considering the vast majority at this time were peasants, this exclusive focus on politicking seems a bit narrow. But perhaps that is precisely what this book set out to do. Yet for my purposes, I was left wanting more…..
3.5/5
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews