Launch of Iva Vukušić’s Serbian Paramilitaries and the Breakup of Yugoslavia

The PSN Book Launch series continues on 15 December 2022 at 16.00 CET with a discussion of Iva Vukušić’s Serbian Paramilitaries and the Breakup of Yugoslavia: State Connections and Patterns of Violence (Routledge, 2022).

Vukušić’s book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the nature and functions of the Serbian paramilitary units during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. Relying on the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, it investigates how and why certain important paramilitary units emerged, how they functioned and transformed through the decade, what their relationships and entanglements were with the state, the Milošević regime, and organized crime. It argues that coordinated action by various state institutions gave rise to paramilitaries which led to a significant weakening of the very state these units and their sponsors swore to protect. The study thus analyses the interrelated ideological, political, and social factors and processes that fuelled paramilitary engagement, and critically assesses its impact on the state and society for which the units purportedly fought.

The respondents will be Hikmet Karčić and Lea David.

The discussion will be moderated by Uğur Ümit Üngör.

This event will take place online, on Zoom. Please register via this link:

https://unibw.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5EqcuiqrzkrH9YppivXw6M481p98weTfYuW

This series is organised by Susanne Knittel and Timothy Williams.