Issue ? 44. June 2014

Parlamentarism in Serbia: First Experience and Its Problems

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
E-mail: srajic@f.bg.ac.rs

The article deals with the circumstances surrounding the implementation of the parliamentary system in Serbia during the five-year long period of 1889–1894. The key problem which hindered this process and eventually led to its’ ultimate failure were the differences between various political powers in the interpretaion of the relations between the constitutional norms and state power. Those differences created several opposing concepts of state structure — the ruling circles supported the idea of a centralised state, with the monarch combining both legislative and executive power. The radicals (considered to be democratic at the time), on the other hand, believed in a decentralised state dominated by the most popular radical party.

Keywords

Сербия, конституция, парламентаризм, закон, партии, монарх, чиновничество, армия, разделение властей.