The Populist Lock
The Populist Lock

Summary/Abstract: The author attempts to explain the fall of the Serbian ruler Slobodan Milošević in October 2000. Milošević’s system of power can be analyzed as a regime with sultanistic tendencies, a dictatorial system based on direct control of power by the ruler, his family and the staff recruited upon personal loyalty. Although activities of the opposition were seriously restricted and the elections were neither free nor fair, the regime could not completely do away with the opposition and elections. Milošević’s regime relied on electoral mobilization of popular support. At the same time it used a wide range of instruments of electoral manipulation. When Milošević decided to organize presidential elections one year before the end of his term, he didn’t calculate with two factors: rapid decline of his legitimacy as result of NATO air strikes against Serbia, and the ability of the Serbian opposition to overcome its fragmentation and unite behind Koštunica as the presidential candidate. Electoral support for Koštunica ultimately exceeded so significantly the support for Milošević that it couldn’t be counterbalanced by any manipulation. Thus Milošević became victim of the populist method of rule by which he came to power.

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