On parliamentary democracy in Serbia 1903-1914 political parties, elections, political freedoms
Parliamentary democracy in Serbia in the period between the May Coup of 1903 and the beginning of the First World War in 1914 was, as compellingly shown by the regular and very detailed reports of the diplomatic representatives of two exemplary democracies, Great Britain and France, functio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute for Balkan Studies SASA
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Balcanica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2017/0350-76531748123B.pdf |
| Summary: | Parliamentary democracy in Serbia in the period between the May Coup of 1903
and the beginning of the First World War in 1914 was, as compellingly shown
by the regular and very detailed reports of the diplomatic representatives of
two exemplary democracies, Great Britain and France, functional and fully
accommodated to the requirements of democratic governance. Some shortcomings,
which were reflected in the influence of extra-constitutional
(“irresponsible”) factors, such as the group of conspirators from 1903 or
their younger wing from 1911 (the organisation Unification or Death),
occasionally made Serbian democracy fragile but it nonetheless remained
functional at all levels of government. A comparison with crises such as
those taking place in, for example, France clearly shows that Serbia,
although perceived as “a rural democracy” and “the poor man’s paradise”, was
a constitutional and democratic state, and that it was precisely its
political freedoms and liberation aspirations that made it a focal point for
the rallying of South-Slavic peoples on the eve of the Great War. Had there
been no firm constitutional boundaries of the parliamentary monarchy and the
democratic system, Serbia would have hardly been able to cope with a series
of political and economic challenges which followed one another after 1903:
the Tariff War 1906-11; the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina 1908/9; the
Balkan Wars 1912-13; the crisis in the summer of 1914 caused by the so-called
Order of Precedence Decree, i.e. by the underlying conflict between civilian
and military authorities. The Periclean age of Serbia, aired with full
political freedoms and sustained cultural and scientific progress is one of
the most important periods in the history of modern Serbian democracy.
[Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological
Development, Grant no. 177011: History of political ideas and institutions in
the Balkans in the 19th and 20th centuries] |
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| ISSN: | 0350-7653 2406-0801 |