Guilt, Responsibility, and Denial

Eric Gordy is a Senior Lecturer in Southeast European Politics at the School of Slavonic and East European Politics, University College London. He is author of The Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives.

• PrefaceChapter 1. Guilt and Responsibility: Problems, History, and LawChapter 2. The Formation of Public Opinion: Serbia in 2001Chapter 3. Moment I: The Leader Is Not InvincibleChapter 4. Approaches to GuiltChapter 5. Moment II: The Djindjić Murder, from Outrage to ConfusionChapter 6. Denial, Avoidance, Shifts of Context: From Denial to Responsibility in Eleven StepsChapter 7. Moment III: The "Scorpions" and the Refinement of DenialChapter 8. Nonmoments: MiloŠević, Karadžić, ŠeŠelj, and MladićChapter 9. Politics and Culture in Approaching the PastNotesBibliographyIndex

"Gordy zeroes in on how Serbs have (or have not) come to terms with the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by their leaders and prosecuted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Judging the Serbian public mind is not easy. Gordy, by going beyond merely examining the legal dramas and public opinion polls, discovered that most Serbs see the issues of guilt and responsibility in wavering shades, not stark colors. The Serbian people, he concludes, have come a good distance. But denialism lingers. . . . Gordy delivers his judgment of all the parties with sensitivity and compassion." (Foreign Affairs) "This book is required reading for scholars engaging with social aspects of transitional justice, as well as anyone trying to understand Serbian political culture. . . . Gordy's approach is methodologically innovative." (Political Studies Review) "A much needed and original contribution. Gordy provides a richness and depth that not only contextualizes but also shines a light on the way the international aspect of the issue of justice affects and is affected by cultural and societal factors." (Chip Gagnon, author of The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s) "Hands-down the best book on political memory and responsibility in the Balkans. No one has read the domestic press as closely; Gordy does not essentialize the field of public memory but rather looks for disagreement and diversity." (Julie Mertus, American University)