Authors

Discussion

“The government vs. the opposition system does not work – our system should build on a different minority vs. majority in every question discussed.” (E. Kardelj)

The Yugoslavian parliamentary experiment in the 1970’s

The last thorough constitutional reform in Socialist federal republic of Yugoslavia followed in 1974. This reform represented the culmination of the “Yugoslav experiment” and remained in force until the 1990s and dissolution of the state. A system of delegates was introduced, which was a non-transparent and indirect concept of total self-management. The architects of the new order deconstructed the whole society – together with all organisations (institutes, institutions, companies, etc.) – into the smallest possible parts, which would supposedly encourage the mass politicisation of the population and their engagement. In the second half of the 1970s, almost 300,000 people in Slovenia (the northernmost Yugoslav republic), with its two million inhabitants, held delegate functions. According to the legal interpretation at the time, the delegation elections meant “the beginning of a permanent, four-year working cooperation between delegations and delegates, working people and citizens…” Allegedly, people were “continuously deciding” which guidelines their delegates should follow.

The Yugoslav system certainly meant a significant societal innovation, but was more often a source of fascination than the subject of serious political and historical analysis. His assessment today is conditioned by his sad end and the ineffectiveness he faced in the Yugoslav crisis of the late 1980s. In this paper, the author aims to illuminate the discussions, justifications, and underlying ideas that served as the bedrock for the Yugoslav system's conceptual framework. The focal point of this analysis will revolve around a comparative assessment, contrasting the Yugoslav system with socialist representation in Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union ...