Ivo Pilar and Robert William Seton-Watson: two Political Viewpoints on the Southern Slav Question

In this article, the author compares the viewpoints of Ivo Pilar and R. W. Seton-Watson, two brilliant publicists, on the South Slav Question as the key problem in southeast Europe in the period up to 1918. He shows how before the First World War both sought a solution to this complex problem, particularly the aspect of Croat-Serb relations, exclusively within the framework of the Habsburg Monarchy. The difference between them lay in the fact that Pilar sought to affirm Croatian statehood, while Seton-Watson to create a new Yugoslav statehood. During the war, Seton-Watson held the view that it was necessary to establish an independent Yugoslav state outside the Monarchy in order to solve the Yugoslav question, but Pilar cemented his standpoint that the Monarchy was the only possible solution for Croatian interests