Serbian Society Undergoing Long-Lasting Socio-economic Crisis

Abstract

Nowadays Serbian society is faced with a deep and long-lasting socio-economic crisis. Actual Serbian government, in order to prevent country’s economic collapse, introduced „new reforms“aimed at the financial consolidation and enhancing new, primarily foreign, investments. First measures of the reform package were reduced salaries paid to individuals employed in public sector and reduced pensions of persons getting pensions from public pension funds. The paper is devoted to the analysis of the overt and hidden justifications of such measures. Actual Serbian political leaders seem to consider „building of socialism“, „worker’s self-management“ and „socialist egalitarism“ as the key causes of the long-lasting socio-economic crisis in Serbia. „Working people“who, allegedly, had supported previous socialist order seemed to be considered as beneficiaries of that inefficient social system. Therefore, actual measures for reducing governmental spending should fell on „shoulders of working people“. The paper is presenting assessment and findings which should show, in a different light, functioning of the former socialist order in Yugoslavia and Serbia. It accentuate specific societal orientations and public policies that have contributed to the excessive spending of former „socialist“, and even of the new „post- socialist“ Serbian state. Leading political forces, former and actual, played crucial role in designing and in the implementation of economically destructive public policies, and not ordinary citizens („working people“), in spite of former „worker’s self-management“ and actual „rule of democracy“. The author suggests an alternative strategy in confronting the long-lasting socio-economic crisis in Serbia, a strategy of increasing and efficiently use of all disposable resources. A new and thorough redesign of the ownership relations in the society is seen as the key measure of this strategy.