Papers by Maja Lukanc
Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino / Contributions to Contemporary History, 2021
AIDS appeared in Slovenia and Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s, when the federation was facing an econ... more AIDS appeared in Slovenia and Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s, when the federation was facing an economic crisis and increasing political discord, while at the same time Slovenian society was characterised by accelerated democratisation and liberalisation. This article addresses the question of how the Slovenian – and to some extent the Yugoslav – politics, experts and public reacted to the arrival of AIDS. Drawing on the periodical press and archival sources, the article outlines the measures adopted by the state in the struggle against AIDS. It also highlights the disagreements that emerged among Yugoslav experts and between federal and republican authorities in dealing with the new disease. In this paper, the response to AIDS serves as a prism for examining the capacity of Slovenian and Yugoslav authorities to deal with complex socio-medical issues, the functioning of the Slovenian and Yugoslav medical profession, and the state of the Slovenian media. It also provides insight into public attitudes towards republican-federal antagonisms and the stigma of the disease, thus revealing the state of socio-political values in the Slovenian and Yugoslav territory during the turbulent 1980s.
Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino / Contributions to Contemporary History, 2021
The article offers a fresh approach to assessing the significance of the Communist Party congress... more The article offers a fresh approach to assessing the significance of the Communist Party congresses in Yugoslavia by highlighting their legitimising role rather than their presumed political importance. Focusing on the five congresses of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia between 1958 and 1978, the article draws its conceptual framework of the legitimation of power from social theory. Based on the analysis of the congress papers of the leading Yugoslav communists, it questions the role of three sources of legitimacy in justifying communist power: ideology, popular sovereignty, and performance. The article argues that the central source of Yugoslav authorities’ legitimacy was socialist self-management, which was effectively intertwined with the other two sources of legitimacy. Marxist elements were particularly prominent in the late 1950s and in the 1970s, while the importance of the collective will of the people was emphasised fairly uniformly at all the congresses considered. In the 1960s, the element of the regime’s economic efficiency – with the standard of living as the most important component – acquired an important role, which steadily increased until the end of the period under consideration.
Studia Historica Slovenica, 2020
Diplomacy provides a unique insight into the socio-political circumstances of individual countrie... more Diplomacy provides a unique insight into the socio-political circumstances of individual countries. Through their reports, analyses, and interpretations, diplomats shape a modicum of knowledge about the state in which they operate. Based on Yugoslav and Polish archival materials and memorial literature, the following contribution explores how diplomats from both countries contributed to the knowledge about Yugoslavia and Poland in the first years after World War II. The article takes into account the factors that influenced the production of knowledge in diplomacy and answers the question of whether the Yugoslav and Polish political decision-makers applied the newly acquired knowledge and how. The first post-war elections in both countries serve as a case study: they allowed diplomats to gain an insight into the operations of the local political elites; shed light on the attitude of the population towards the new authorities, and answered the question of how far the communists were willing to go in their struggle for power.
Jugoslavija i Poljska: odnosi u XX veku, 2019
In the spring of 1948, the eyes of the Eastern European communist elites were focused on the Sovi... more In the spring of 1948, the eyes of the Eastern European communist elites were focused on the Soviet Union, the hegemon of recently formed Eastern bloc, and on Yugoslavia, its closest ally, which got involved in a dispute that a few months later resulted in the first split in the Communist bloc. While the dynamics between the two main actors of the conflict had always been at the centre of attention, it is less known what was happening, parallel to the escalation of the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, in relations between Yugoslavia and other people's democracies. Many Eastern European leaders viewed the Soviet charges against Tito and his circle with scepticism, since they knew them as men of the greatest communist orthodoxy. Doubts with regard to accusations were subtly expressed by Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgarian Communist Party) and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Romanian Worker’s Party) but the main attention might be drawn by the misgivings of Władysław Gomułka (Polish Worker’s Party), who had, already at the background of the conference in Szklarska Poręba in September 1947, opposed to the formation of such a body as Cominform. The paper, therefore, focuses on the responses of the Polish Communist leadership to the Soviet accusations against Yugoslavia and contextualize them within the reactions of other communist leaders of the Eastern bloc.
Papers and Proceedings of the Third Medieval Workshop in Rijeka, 2018
Anna of Celje (Cilli) (* ca. 1380/1388; † 1416) gained importance and recognition by marrying Wła... more Anna of Celje (Cilli) (* ca. 1380/1388; † 1416) gained importance and recognition by marrying Władysław II Jagełło (* ca. 1352/1362; † 1434), the Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke and therefore became the first queen from the House of Celje (Cilli). With regard to various narrative and documentary sources, the article tries to shed light of her life, to show Anna's firm integration into the family of the House of Celje and the circumstances that led her to the Polish throne. It exposes that upon Anna's arrival to Kraków she was accepted as the legitimate heir to the Polish throne and discusses the importance of her new position for the rise of the House of Celje. The article gives a short overview of Anna's rulership as a Polish Queen and at the end explores her role in the public life of the Kingdom of Poland, which, although it seems a minor one, caused her to fall into disfavour with the Teutonic Order.
Polska i Jugosławia w XX wieku: Polityka, społeczeństwo, kultura, 2018
The paper focuses on the discrepancy between the private standpoints of the Yugoslav leadership, ... more The paper focuses on the discrepancy between the private standpoints of the Yugoslav leadership, ambivalent reticence of the Yugoslav press, and opinions of wider Yugoslav public with regard to the Polish events in 1956.
Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino / Contributions to Contemporary History, 2017
The contribution attempts to make a comparative presentation of the rise of the Polish and Yugosl... more The contribution attempts to make a comparative presentation of the rise of the Polish and Yugoslav Communist Parties to power; it pays special attention to the factors that influenced the different political and social position of the Polish and Yugoslav communists as well as to the question of how the Parties had to adapt their tactics, methods and tempo of their rise to power.
Nečakov zbornik: Procesi, teme in dogodki iz 19. in 20. stoletja, 2018
The article presents the causes and course of political ferment in Poland during 1956, while at t... more The article presents the causes and course of political ferment in Poland during 1956, while at the same time focusing on the echoes of the Polish events in Yugoslavia.
Zgodovinski časopis / Historical Review, 2017
The second part of the treatise follows Anna’s rule from the birth of her only child to her untim... more The second part of the treatise follows Anna’s rule from the birth of her only child to her untimely death; it draws attention to the meeting of the two queens from Celje, Anna and Barbara, in 1412, and discusses Anna’s role in the public life of the Kingdom of Poland – even though it appears to be a minor one, traces of her political activity, which caused her to fall into disfavour of the Teutonic Order, have been preserved.
Zgodovinski časopis / Historical Review, 2017
The paper sheds light to life of Anna of Cilli (* 1380–1388; † 1416), second wife of Władisław Ja... more The paper sheds light to life of Anna of Cilli (* 1380–1388; † 1416), second wife of Władisław Jagiełło and Queen of Poland, as outlined by the preserved sources. In the first part, it points to her firm embeddedness in the Celje family and follows her journey to Poland, highlighting that upon her arrival in Krakow she was received as a legitimate heiress to the Polish throne.
Book Reviews by Maja Lukanc
Токови историје, часопис Института за новију историју Србије / Currents of History, Journal of the Institute for Recent History of Serbia, 2017
ed.: Momčilo Pavlović, Andrzej Zaćmiński, Paweł Wawryszuk.
Beograd: Institut za savremenu istorij... more ed.: Momčilo Pavlović, Andrzej Zaćmiński, Paweł Wawryszuk.
Beograd: Institut za savremenu istoriju, Institut za istoriju i
međunarodne odnose (Bidgošč), Društvo istoričara Srbije „Stojan
Novaković“ (Beograd), 2017, 529.
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Papers by Maja Lukanc
Book Reviews by Maja Lukanc
Beograd: Institut za savremenu istoriju, Institut za istoriju i
međunarodne odnose (Bidgošč), Društvo istoričara Srbije „Stojan
Novaković“ (Beograd), 2017, 529.
Beograd: Institut za savremenu istoriju, Institut za istoriju i
međunarodne odnose (Bidgošč), Društvo istoričara Srbije „Stojan
Novaković“ (Beograd), 2017, 529.