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The Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives (Post-Communist Cultural Studies)
 
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The Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives (Post-Communist Cultural Studies) [Paperback]

Eric D. Gordy (Author)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: The Pennsylvania State University Press (31 Dec 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0271019581
  • ISBN-13: 978-0271019581
  • Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 970,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Eric D. Gordy
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Product Description

Product Description

How does the regime of Slobodan Milosevic and his Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) remain in power? Since legitimizing its power in 1990, the SPS has never received a majority of votes in an election. Furthermore, it has been defeated in three military conflicts, produced more than 500,000 refugees, presided over the most extreme hyperinflation in modern times, and failed in its original defining promise to see "all Serbs in one state." In The Culture of Power in Serbia, Eric Gordy explores how the Milosevic government prolongs its tenure despite failures and setbacks that would have brought down most other regimes. Gordy finds the answer in everyday life. The Milosevic regime has largely succeeded in making alternatives to its rule unavailable. By controlling key aspects of daily life, including politics, media, and popular music, it has undermined opposition by closing off alternative voices. The result is an atmosphere in which people feel they have lost control over their private life and cultural environment.Nevertheless, Gordy finds reason to be optimistic about the long-term prospects for Serbia. The regime's forays into popular music have largely failed, and it has had only partial success in controlling the media, suggesting that the present strategy will not work forever. In Gordy's judgment, the Milosevic regime has a limited future.The Culture of Power in Serbia provides fresh perspective for readers interested in contemporary Eastern Europe, in the strategies and tactics of authoritarian regimes, in the sociology of everyday life, and in the political potential of culture.

From the Author

How does the regime survive?
This book is trying to answer a question many people who follow events in the Balkans have asked themselves: how does the regime in Serbia survive? It is unpopular, widely regarded as illegitimate, has lost all of the conflicts it has entered in the name of nationalism, and yet it seems to hang on with a mystifying tenacity.

I tried to answer the question by looking at some aspects of everyday life in Serbia which are not conventionally thought of as political, but which have had political implications. This led me to a general idea which explains the persistence of Milosevic--and which can also explain the longevity of a lot of authoritarian regimes. The regime does not survive by generating support, but by exhausting people with frustration. I try to show how this works in formal politics, in information, in music and in sociability.

The big question remains, of course: when and how will the regime end? I do not have a prediction, but the conclusion suggests some places to look for answers.

I would like to thank all of the people who are interested in my book. I wrote it in order to help people understand the situation in Serbia from the ground level, and I will be happy if it succeeds.

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Amazon.com:  3 reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Top-notch research and writing 16 Oct 2002
By Edward Bosnar - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Gordy's basic premise is that the rather unpopular, corrupt and war-mongering regime controlled by Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia during the 1990s retained its hold on power by eliminating any meaningful alternatives to itself. He provides a very detailed account of how this was done in the fields of culture, politics, the media and the economy. Since the book was written and published in 1999, when Milosevic was still in power in Serbia, the basic question posed by the study, i.e. how does he manage to stay in power, should be replaced with how did he manage to stay in power so long? Otherwise, this is a vitally important study, as the matters Gordy covers here illuminate many aspects of political culture in Serbia during the 1990s - and help readers understand the country's current political malaise as well. Despite the many changes that have occurred since Milosevic's fall from power, the legacy of the `destruction of alternatives' he helped institute will continue to dog Serbian society for years to come (and, looking over the fence from Croatia, I have to add: just as the legacy of Franjo Tudjman still haunts and troubles Croatian society today and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future).
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Universally significant - not just a book about Serbia 30 May 2003
By Robert Williams - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gordy identifies the methods by which the Milosevic regime, which obviously provided few benefits to its people, nonetheless maintained its power. Gordy identifies these methods as the "destruction of alternatives-" the removal of alternative political ideas, or of cultural institutions, such as popular music, that would enable individuals to unite in thought in a manner distinct from, and therefore threatening to, the regime.

This is indeed quite valuable to students of Yugoslavia or Eastern Europe; its broader value, however, is its contribution to the larger issues of power studied by sociologists and political scientists. How is power maintained? We frequently assume that individuals will revolt if conditions are so bad they have nothing to lose. Gordy documents the ability of the powerful to actually take away this option. Most mechanisms, such as cencorship, make revolt more difficult, raising the pain level people will tolerate; however, by keeping the more politically savvy urbanites near starvation, the regime actually compromised their very ability to express dissent.

Gordy provides an academic and, to the degree it is possible in social science, empirical explanation of power that is profoundly disturbing; sometimes it may be impossible to displace the powerful. True, outside forces crippled the regime; but what does this suggest about the American line that local groups should revolt to demonstrate support for democracy and earn military support? Don't throw it out yet, but Gordy presents an important argument. It also helps explain the success of earlier brutal regimes; Haile Selassie used similar techniques far more adeptly, and therefore more brutally, in Ethiopia. This book is both an insightful analysis of the Serbian regime's tactics and a significant study of the nature of power.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Turbo Folk and the Cut-Out Bin of History 11 Mar 2002
By Doginfollow - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Struggling to understand how Slobodan Milosevic managed to tighten his grip on power in Serbia despite a disasterous decade of war and economic decline? Or would you just like to know why authoritarian regimes produce such terrible pop music? Eric Gordy's "Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives" is a good place to start for both questions. Though written before the war in Kosovo and Milosevic's subsequent fall from power, the book provides a useful framework for understanding both the durability of his regime and the fragility of its popular support. Prof. Gordy argues that Milosevic maintained power not through any skill in governing (the record on that score is pretty clear), but by systematically dismantling any alternatives that Serbian civil society could muster. As one would expect, Gordy covers in some detail Milosevic's attempts to co-opt, stifle and crush rival political parties and media organizations. What is unique about this book is the long chapter devoted to the underground music scene in Belgrade. The regime rightly perceived a threat to its political as well as cultural dominance, and rallied its forces behind a smarmy concoction dubbed "Turbo Folk".... This musical atrocity does not, of course, compare to those committed in Bosnia and Kosovo, but it is a chilling read nonetheless. Gordy clearly brings a mastery of Serbo-Croatian literary and musical idiom to this section. One wishes only that the book were accompanied by a CD. Though written from a sociological perspective, this book is full of lively if understated prose, and offers much to engage the non-specialist and general reader.

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