CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Rupcic, Tijana |
|---|---|
| Title | Powering Connections: Electric Infrastructure in Socialist Yugoslavia 1945-1991 |
| Summary | The research presented in this dissertation provides detailed analysis of the political and ideological uses of electric infrastructure in Yugoslavia from 1945 to the early 1990s. The study aimed to understand how Yugoslavia used critical infrastructure projects as a powerful political tool to pursue political ambitions. This thesis also highlights the role of Yugoslav technocrats in decision-making and their autonomy in large-scale infrastructure decisions. This analysis of the technocratic model in Yugoslavia serves as a tool to understand interrelatedness between political and managerial actors. The research on development and political use of electric infrastructure has proven to be an important source in understanding the Yugoslav experience. Three major ways Yugoslavia tried to assert political dominance using electric infrastructure were: establishing itself as a dominant force in the Balkans, being a bridge between the East and West after 1948, and using the critical infrastructure as a showcase for newfound partners from Asia, Africa, and South America in the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement. The decisions on where critical infrastructure projects would be constructed deeply affected Yugoslav domestic politics and tensions between federal republics. The problem of disproportion in economic and infrastructural development between Yugoslav republics existed before 1945, and the decisions on where the critical infrastructure projects would be located deepened the divisive line between them. The dissertation highlights the uniqueness of the Yugoslav case, as it showed that a relatively small and developing country like Yugoslavia could use infrastructure for political ambitions. |
| Supervisor | Hall, Karl |
| Department | History PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/rupcic_tijana.pdf |
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