“Foreign” Businesspeople and Economic Nationalism in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes: Cases from the Maribor Oblast (1922–1929)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51663/pnz.66.2.03Keywords:
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, economic nationalism, Yugoslavia, citizenship, StyriaAbstract
The present paper discusses the role of economic nationalism in the interwar Yugoslav
state’s administrative practice by examining petitions for business permits filed by foreign
citizens in the Maribor Oblast. After outlining the relevant legislation and administrative
structures, the paper focuses on the presence of nationalist discourse as well as general
references to nationality within the administrative process. The study shows that national
belonging played an important discursive role in the administrative treatment of foreign
businesspeople in the interwar Yugoslav state. While officials understood national belonging
in both biological (“by birth”) as well as social/ideological terms (“by conviction”), they
were primarily interested in its manifestation as empirically verifiable practices and behaviours.
All the while, the study shows that the declarative importance of nationhood did not
translate into the practical outcomes of individual petitions. In the name of international
reciprocity, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Belgrade regularly awarded business
licenses to candidates whose petitions were negatively assessed by the local authorities.
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Funding data
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The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Grant numbers P6-0281
