engleski

Administrative Elite during the Dictatorship of King Alexander (1929-1935): Builders of the Yugoslav State and Nation

On January 6th 1929 King Alexander Karadjordjevic, emphasizing political and national crisis that obstructed the development of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia in its first ten years, proclaimed his personal dictatorship. In the era of this autocratic dictatorship the regime sought to control the Kingdom at all levels (the rights of citizens and nations, economics, education, administration and police etc). From 1929 to 1935 the regime banned all political parties (of course, apart from its own parties). In an effort to intensify the building of a unified state and nation, the regime, among others, decided to rely on the existing and newly created administrative elite. Citizens have lost the ability to influence the development of the Kingdom, as well as their own surroundings, because the regime imposed the people it trusted, even as the heads of municipalities. This paper, based on archival materials, newspapers, memoirs and other specialized literature, will first answer the question of who constitutes the administrative elite in interwar Yugoslavia. Subsequently, we will establish in which segments the undemocratic regime sought the help of the administration in the effort of building the Yugoslav state and nation. At the end, we will try to answer why did the administrative elite help or hinder regime’s efforts. Special attention will be given to the Croatian territory, where the population resisted these efforts, seeking the protection of their national rights and the restoration of democracy.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia; power; politics; government administration; local administratation

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