Academic literature on the topic 'Yugoslavia – History – 1945-1980'

Given the great significance of moral rationales and societal values implied in theatrical plays, the Communist Party and state authorities in Tito’s Yugoslavia paid great attention to them, especially during the first decades after the country’s liberation. During my long-term research into the relationship between the government and theater in Belgrade between 1945 and 1980, a unique phenomenon revealed itself, which is that the changes in the orientation of Yugoslavia’s foreign policy three times directly affected Belgrade’s theatrical repertoires. The main aim of this research is to examine and analyze the impact of Yugoslav foreign policy on Belgrade’s theater repertoires under Tito’s rule, and the key hypothesis is that the corresponding agendas of Yugoslav foreign policy in the observed period directly influenced Belgrade’s theater repertoires.

Defence Date: 26 February 2019
Examining Board: Prof. Pavel Kolář, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof. Lucy Riall, European University Institute; Prof. Hannes Grandits, Humboldt University of Berlin Assoc.; Prof. Igor Duda, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Yugoslav discovery of its own Mediterraneaness was the result of several factors – global politics manifest in Yugoslav engagement in the Non-Aligned Movement, economic benefit from foreign tourism and the development of the Adriatic as the centre of Yugoslav entertainment. The new socialist government had to find a balance between the Yugoslavization of three main cultural spheres – Central European, Balkan, and Mediterranean – and multi(national) culturality symbolized in the ideological postulate of “brotherhood and unity”. In the building of a specific Yugoslav culture, the spread of mass media and consumerism played an important role and enabled shaping Yugoslav popular culture. Two things were crucial: the introduction of self-management and opening to the Western countries. The first caused the liberalization of the cultural sphere and the “democratization” of culture, while openness to the West contributed to the further internationalization and commercialization of culture. In a country that had just started developing its entertainment industry, the Italian example not only filled a gap in the everyday needs of Yugoslav citizens, but it also shaped their taste, and expectations from domestic production. Three case studies – popular music, television entertainment, and fashion and lifestyles – demonstrate the Yugoslav Mediterranean was built upon direct Italian influence, ideological work on the creation of a specific Yugoslav culture, a collective imaginary of the Adriatic as a shared space among all Yugoslav people, and the promotion of Yugoslavia as a tourist destination. Finally, the development of domestic and foreign tourism at the Adriatic had not only an economic purpose, but also played an important soft-power role in disseminating information on everyday life under the Yugoslav socialist experiment. The international dimension of Yugoslav tourism thus created a platform for the promotion of the country and the Yugoslav good life abroad, with happy and satisfied tourists returning home with images of the sunny and light-hearted Mediterranean
Chapter 2 'Popular Music and the Sounds of the Sea' of the PhD thesis draws upon two earlier versions published as articles “Opatijski festival i razvoj zabavne glazbe u Jugoslaviji (1958–1962.)” (2016) in the journal 'Časopis za suvremenu povijest' and “A romanthic southern myth (2005) in the journal 'TheMa – Open Access Research Journal for Theatre, Music, Arts'.

Defence date: 14 July 2017
Examining Board: Prof Federico Romero, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof Pavel Kolář, European University Institute; Prof Josip Glaurdić, University of Luxembourg; Prof Tvrtko Jakovina, University of Zagreb
This thesis examines the origins and evolution of Yugoslav policy towards Western European integration from the early 1950s until the signing of the first Yugoslav–EEC Trade Agreement in 1970. It examines the emerging role of Western Europe in the Yugoslav foreign and internal politics within the larger context of the Cold War and development of European integration. Increased trade relations with the EEC and the domestic introduction of the 1965 Economic Reform proved vital in persuading Belgrade to become the first socialist country to establish diplomatic and trade relations with the Community in 1968. The thesis argues that these relations became of increasing relevance to the economic and, ultimately, political stability of Yugoslavia. Besides the basic foreign (trade) policy concepts towards the EEC, this study focuses on the perceptions of the Western European integration process among the political elite by addressing the following research questions: How did Yugoslav policymakers react to the Western European integration process? What impact did the success of the EEC have on Yugoslav foreign policy and internal differences among the political elite? In what way did the League of Communists of Yugoslavia rationalize their cooperation with the EEC? What did it mean for the internal coherence of the LCY and for Yugoslavia’s pronounced cooperation with the developing countries? The overarching question is how and why already in the 1960s the EEC became such an important external factor, crucial for the economic development and stability of Yugoslavia. By analysing the complex interaction between the external factors and internal dynamics of Yugoslavia and their impact on Belgrade´s policy towards the EEC, this study provides an explanation of the underlying long-term structural problems of the economy that determined the Yugoslav diplomatic and economic responses to the creation and evolution of the EEC until the breakup of the country.
Chapter ‘Conclusion' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'A troubled relationship : Yugoslavia and the European economic community in détente' (2014) in the journal ‘European review of history’