Tri lica Behemota ili o aktuelnosti jednog simbola iz istorije socijalne misli

Abstract

In this article three politically relevant symbolic meanings of the Behemoth myth are discusses: (1) in the Jewish version (imperial conquest of week peoples), (2) in the version of Thommas Hobbes (civil war in the absence of 'democratic sentiment'), and (3) in the version of Franz Neumann (stateless and lawless coalition of four elites - party, bureaucracy, military and industrial monopoly - for the sake of perfect control and domination over powerless masses). All of these Behemoth symbols are recognized as adequate in the case of former Yugoslavia (in its last, bloody process of disintegration after the summer 1991). The Jewish Behemoth (as a symbol of ethnic cleansing and homogenization on the occupied territories, meant to become parts of 'Great Serbia', 'Great Croatia', and 'Great Albania') may be applied to Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo and Metohia. Hobbes' Behemoth is seen as an appropriate symbol for the civil war (as a consequence of the lack of 'democratic sentiment' in politics), going on among the Muslim, Croat and Serb parties in Croatia by January 1992). Finally, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia could be treated as a country approaching Neumann's Behemoth, symbolizing, the informal coalition of four elites - the Serbian and Montenegrian ruling parties, military and 'paramilitary-blackmarket league' - legally unrestrained in their control and domination over the population. The article ends with a comment on the 'contribution' of the international community, incapable of respecting international law, to the 'rule of Behemoth' in former Yugoslavia.