Political Innovation and Policy Implementation in Yugoslavia: the Case of Worker Migration Abroad (Eastern Europe, Public Policy).

This dissertation explores some consequences of political and economic reform in socialist Yugoslavia. It examines Yugoslav worker migration to Western Europe to illustrate how the Yugoslav government makes policy. It shows how the issue of worker migration emerged onto Yugoslav policy agendas in the late 1960s, how Yugoslav decision makers formulated a comprehensive migration policy in the early 1970s and how they have implemented that policy since that time. The study focuses on the development of a community of administrators, politicians, and social scientists. This "migration policy community" includes, in a de facto and ad hoc way, groups as diverse as the Catholic Church, West European administrators and social scientists, and employees of international organizations. In the course of regular consultations, these specialists develop new interpretations of old issues and generate different policy packages for consideration by political generalists. The thesis argues that the choice by political generalists of whether or not to promote an issue remains a defining feature of Yugoslav policy making. Central elites turned to the issue of migration in the early 1970s as they linked it to the rising tide of Croatian nationalism and constitutional reform. They then turned to specialists on migration and found an ongoing discussion on which they based the new migration policy. Once they decided to consider the issue, federal, republican and local policy makers have formulated laws, agreements and programs treating migration. This policy emphasizes, inter alia, the return and economic reintegration of migrants into Yugoslav society through innovative programs for migrants to invest their savings. These programs rarely meet policy makers' initial expectations because of Yugoslavia's political and administrative decentralization. Policy makers at all levels of government are able to resist the implementation of programs with which they disagree, particularly when the central elites do not regard a given program as crucial. The dissertation shows that scholars can best underst and problems of reform in Socialist countries by focusing on the "low politics" of policy implementation as well as on the "high politics" of elite conflict.PhDPolitical scienceUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161067/1/8621251.pd