Les sources françaises de la démocratie serbe (1804-1914)

Dušan T. Bataković has recently published the book   Les sources françaises de la démocratie serbe (1804-1914)     (The French Sources of Serbian Democracy (1804-1914), CNRS Editions, Paris 2013, 577 pp.

« Beyond the very title of this book, the reader discovers here, through the prism of Serbian relationships with France, a real history of the political and institutional development of Serbia prior to the year 1914.

The topical conclusions of this great work  by Dušan T. Bataković, finely provide a detailed picture of the progressive evolutions and modernization of a country that had to tackle its internal political issues as well as its national definition, as it was common at that time. But Serbia had a breeding ground at its disposal that was not existing elsewhere in this part of Europe : a democracy based on agrarian policies. On the other hand, Serbia was built on multiple French and British influences, and not only Russian and Austro-Hungarian ones. Consequently, it explains why the state has a very particular situation in this part of the world. More than any country located in the Balkans, Serbia has shown itself tremendously open to Western European cultures, and one can clearly understand why there is such a privileged alliance between France and Serbia. An alliance that not only takes its sources in passing tactical considerations, but especially in deep-rooted realities. »

 

George-Henri Soutou

Member of the Institute