A Kakovu Hoće Državu Demokrate? [What Kind Of Country Does A Democrat Want?]
- Title:
- A Kakovu Hoće Državu Demokrate? [What Kind Of Country Does A Democrat Want?]
- Alternate Title:
- What Kind Of Country Does A Democrat Want?
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Date:
- 1931
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2292.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2292_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Politics & Government
Pictorial
Other War & Peace
Ethnocentrism - Measurement:
- 62 x 48 sheet (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The title of this map of Yugoslavia asks, “What kind of country does a democrat want?” The text below the map answers, “One nation, one country, one king, one government. One force that in one blow breaks all surrounding predators, creating peace and security.”
The ”Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes" was created immediately after World War I as a democratic parliamentary monarchy under King Alexander I. Over time, parliamentary democracy became increasingly dysfunctional and partisan disputes increasingly violent. In June 1928, two Croatian deputies and their party leader were assassinated in the National Assembly by a Serb deputy. As a result, King Alexander in January 1929 dissolved the Assembly, banned political parties, suspended the constitution and renamed the state Yugoslavia - all with the “stated goal of preserving the unity of the state and its peoples.” Trbovich 2008, 127.
In September 1931, Alexander unilaterally imposed a new constitution with a diminished representative system (the word “parliament” was not mentioned) subject to the control of the king as “the champion of national unity and the integrity of the state.” Dragnich 1983, 86. The new constitution has been described variously as “guided democracy” (ibid.) or “a fig leaf of legitimacy to cover the crude reality of the royal dictatorship.” Singleton 1985, 160.
This poster is undated, but was likely published shortly before or after the promulgation of the new constitution. A powerful man with his sleeves rolled up stands astride the newly anointed Yugoslavia. He bears a strong resemblance to photos of Alexander (without glasses and with a pumped-up physique). He has “broken” all of the nation’s “surrounding predators” - an Italian is drowning in the Adriatic (with only his hat visible); an Albanian has jumped into the sea to avoid being thrown in; a Bulgarian is fleeing; a Rumanian is dazed and seeing stars; an Austrian has left only rags behind. The message echoes Alexander’s focus in 1929 and 1931 on the “unity” of the new nation.
Alexander was assassinated in 1934 while on an official visit to France and succeeded by a regency for his young son. In 1941, Yugoslavia was swept away by the German armies on their way to the conquest of Greece.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.