ABSTRACT
By the early 1970s, the concept of "political culture" became part of everyday speech in the former Yugoslav society. In this way, Yugoslavs could then better explain any discrepancies between self- governing goals and ordinary behaviors, hopes for democratic processes and authoritarian realities, and conflicts between rosy projections for the future and the dark burdens taken over from the past. Such contradictions suggested (more intuitively than scientifically) a lack of any democratic traditions as an obstacle for building what was called "the most human of all societies." Simultaneously, this situation raised the question whether or not political culture really meant having preexistent democratic traditions or could it also include some new content more appropriate for an improved quality in all human relations like social, economic, and political. The fall of the system has provided an opportunity for a theoretical political culture ready to receive new contents but, sadly enough, based on the old model relying on loyalty, identity, and power.
