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Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
- a perception developed for products “made in Yugoslavia”, representing good quality
food or industrial goods at aff ordable prices both for trading companies and for
consumers.
A new perception developed, accepting Yugoslavia as a political nation, characterized
by its overcoming of ethnic and religious divisions among Yugoslav citizens, up to the
point that existing ethno-religious diff erences within the Yugoslav community were
simply ignored. Th e old perception, based on ethno-religious diff erences, survived within
the Catholic Church, which was aware of the religious divide between Catholic Croats
and Slovenes, for whom they felt responsible, and members of the Orthodox Church
and Muslims, who were part of another community. Th e old perception also survived
within the Ustasha exile community, which had a strong foothold in Austria and did
not fi t into the Yugoslav identity. A revisionist nationalist Croat diaspora, they had close
relationships with Austrian conservatives and the Vatican, and maintained an ethnocultural
self-defi nition instead of a socio-political self-defi nition of national identity.
Serbian nationalism, which lacked similar footholds in Austrian society, could more
easily identify with the Yugoslav nation. Both nationalisms challenged the idea of an all-
Yugoslav identity, embracing people from all ethnic and religious groups, which gained
ground in the Yugoslav diaspora during the 1970s and 1980s. Aft er Tito’s death in 1980,
which coincided with Yugoslavia’s debt crisis, social confl ict developed along ethnic lines,
which again came to dominate Austrians’ perception of Yugoslav citizens’ identities.
Destroying Yugoslavia: 1990 onwards
At the beginning of the 1990s Austrian politics heavily intervened in Yugoslav
aff airs. It was the time when ethnicization of social and economic problems took place,
causing brutal eruptions and determining future cultural identity in all six republics.
Th e weakness of the federal structures within Yugoslavia was evident and Vienna used
this chance to deepen the crisis of the state by supporting the secessionist elites and
movements in Croatia and Slovenia and later on in Bosnia.
Th e reasons for this one-sided and therefore destructive involvement were multiple.
Economically the strongest regions in the Yugoslav federation were situated in the
north: functioning multinational companies such as Gorenje, Lek or Elan had good
international relations not just with Austrian fi rms at the time, not forgetting the tourist
sector, where millions of Austrian visitors came to the Slovene, Croat and Montenegrin
coasts every year. So foreign investment in these economic fi elds looked profi table aft er
the civil wars ended in the mid-1990s, and this potential was also fulfi lled in many cases,
such as in the banking sector, tourism and energy.
Culturally the historic ties from Habsburg times played a certain role especially for
the conservative right wing in Austrian politics that became stronger in this period of
time. Th e Croat right wing and Catholic backed elite were therefore considered as a
“natural ally” of Vienna. On the other side you could see a rebirth of historic resentment
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