Name and Surname
Boriša Mraović
Affiliation
Independent researcher
Contact email
borisa.mraovic@gmail.com
Short Biography
Born in Sarajevo in 1981. He has a diploma in psychology and a master diploma in social sciences from Sarajevo and Bologna Universities. He has more than 15 years of experience in primary and applied research in social sciences and has done work and published papers and articles exploring a range of topics including political institutions, migration, urban sociology, political economy and contemporary history. For the past decade he worked closely with Association for Culture and Art Crvena from Sarajevo. His current research focuses on questions in political economy, history of economic theory and practice, and on the theory of social forms.
Research Abstract
Present research will explore a very particular institution for development and investment financing that was part of the institutional set-up of socialist Yugoslavia during its entire and rather short life. The institution was officially called “self-contributions” and consisted of regular monthly payments levied over personal income for all employed inhabitants of a city or a certain municipality during the previously agreed period of time (from 6 months to 5 years). What is remarkable is that decisions to adopt such measures were decided at general referendum procedures. By careful analysis of this institution, its history and the related political practice, the research seeks to contribute to two goals. First, it seeks to expand our knowledge on the history of socialist Yugoslavia by providing a detailed study of self-contributions as a unique democratic source of investment funds for crucial development project and improvements in social and material infrastructure. Second, it looks at how insights into the way they functioned, the role they played in the more general systems of social planning, and financing as well as democratic processes they depended on, can be used as inspiration for policies aiming at deepening democratic rule and at giving more agency to citizens in planning, financing and implementation of development programs and projects.