Workers’ Self-Management in Yugoslavia

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the self-management system in the Socialist Federal Republic (SFR) of Yugoslavia, one of the main features that before 1989 distinguished Yugoslavia from other socialist countries in Eastern Europe. It recalls how self-management was introduced, its principal features and development over several decades, and why the outcomes diverged from their initial blueprints. Given that the Yugoslav model inspired a growing literature on self-management, the chapter also gives an overview of the theoretical and empirical literature on the labor-managed firm and recalls various forms of employee participation practiced in Western economies. After Yugoslavia’s disintegration in 1991, its successor states abandoned self-management, because the transition to a market economy implied a radical departure from the previous economic system, and in most cases have not replaced it with other forms of employee involvement in enterprise policies. This runs counter to the practice in the economies of the European Union and the United States, where forms of workers’ participation have been practiced for decades and continue to attract the attention of scholars and policymakers.