Naslov
To Shape a Region: Istria and Vojvodina Between Regionalism and Nationalism

Autori
Raos, Višeslav

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, pp prezentacija, znanstveni

Skup
Strategies of Symbolic Nation-Building in South Eastern Europe

Mjesto i datum
Rijeka, Hrvatska, 08.05.2014. - 10.05.2014

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
Istria ; Vojvodina ; regionalism ; nation-building ; territorial identity

Sažetak
So far, academic research on post-Yugoslav countries and societies was mostly concentrated on issues and topics related to post-communism, statehood, nation-building, war, democratic transition, democratic consolidation and European integration, while other, more specific processes were largely neglected, both by domestic and foreign scholars. One of such processes is the shaping of regional political identity and regionalist political parties. Research on regionalist parties in comparative politics is mostly focuses on Western Europe, while such political actors are rarely taken into account when the post-communist Eastern Europe is analyzed. While regionalist parties exist in both Central and South Eastern Europe, examples of particularly prominent regionalist political forces are to found in South Eastern Europe, specifically in the post-Yugoslav area. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the phenomenon of regionalist political parties in Croatia and Serbia. Although not confined to just these two regions, regionalism reached its most mature and successful stage in the Western Croatian peninsula of Istria and the Northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. Both regions share a history distinct from their respective nation states and a multifaceted, culturally and ethnically mixed demographic makeup. In the wake of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the shaping of independent nation states, the notion of regionalism and regional identity, rooted in a specific experience of territorial identification and cultural heritage, became anathema to the political elites trying to homogenize the new sovereign nations and strengthen the sense of national unity and identity. This paper will attempt to compare the establishment, ascent and success of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) and showcase the causes and factors for the greater success of the Istrian regionalist narrative on distinct territorial identity as compared to the case of Vojvodina and its main regionalist political party.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija

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