Public Administration in Yugoslavia
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1959.tb01530.x |
| Author | F. J. Tickner |
| Published date | 01 June 1959 |
| Date | 01 June 1959 |
Public Administration
in
Yugoslavia
By
F.
J.
TICKNER
Former& Director
of
Training and Education in
H.M.
Treasury,
Mr.
Tickner is
now
Deputy Director
of
the Ofie
for
Public
Administration
in the United
Nations.
HE
machinery of government in Yugoslavia is unique in character and
T
of great interest to students of public administration. Although
it
has
some affinities to the administrative systems of other European countries,
it has adopted, since the revision of the Constitution of 1953, principles
which have
no
exact parallel elsewhere. This article attempts to give a
general picture of Yugoslav pubIic administration, without attempting to
evaluate the effectiveness of its operation, a task which would be almost
impossible for a foreign observer.
HISTORY
AND
POLITICS
For a full understanding of the present administrative situation, some
preliminary historical and political observations are necessary. Although
the Yugoslavs form
a
homogeneous ethnic group, Yugoslavia had not been
a political
unity
since the Turkish invasions of Europe in the fourteenth
century until the end of the first world war, when a centralized monarchy
was established under predominant Serbian influence. This was destroyed
by the German invasion in 1941, and
on
29th November 1943 the federated
state of Yugoslavia was set up by the Council of National Liberation at
Jacje, whilst the country was still partly occupied by the German forces.
Belgrade, the capital, was liberated
in
1944 and the new government gained
effective control of the whole territory of Yugoslavia by May 1945. The
new state was formally proclaimed the Federated People’s Republic of
Yugoslavia
on
29th November
1945.
Apart from some differences
in
the
region
of
Trieste, it has the same geographic area as the monarchy.
Yugoslavia was for many centuries divided between Austrian and Turkish
control. From the beginning of the eighteenth century the frontier between
these two cultural influences was stabilized roughly along the line of the
river Save. This cut Serbia in half and left Belgrade, now the capital, right
on
the border as a Turkish bastion overlooking the Save and the Danube.
The Serbs gained some measure of autonomy during the first half of the
nineteenth century, but
it
was not until 1867 that Prince Michael finally
secured the withdrawal of the Turkish garrisons from southern Serbia.
The northern part
of
Serbia, Voivodina, remained under Austro-Hungarian
control and in 1908 the Austrians extended their influence even further
south by effectively ousting the Turks from Bosnia and Herzegovina. As
a result of the second Balkan war, Macedonia became part of Serbia in 1913.
Montenegro has continuously maintained its independence since the fourteenth
century.
In
spite of the foreign influences brought by this long period of invasions.
the mountainous nature of most of Yugoslavia has enabled
it
to maintain a
traditional culture, predominantly indigenous, varying from district to district
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