The Social Basis of Party Politics and Elite Recruitment in Serbia (Research Brief)

During my research trip I focused on gathering secondary and primary data on elites and politics in Serbia. Primary data on political (as opposed to economic) elites appears to be relatively scarce, except for the very top elite echelon. A modest data base exists for parliamentary deputies and this data was collected in the Federal Assembly in Belgrade. Visits to political party offices with the purpose of collecting data on elites yielded a variety of results: predictably, the openly reformist parties proved more open to the possibility of sociological inquiry. The conclusion was that the question of elite recruitment may have to be approached in more indirect fashion, i.e. through the analysis of voting, party appeals, and the social profile of party memberships.

Download the pdf at the top of this page for the full brief.

Veljko Vujačić, of Oberlin College, was a 2005-06 Short-Term Travel Grants fellow.