Ivo Banac | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 March 1947 |
| Died | 30 June 2020(2020-06-30) (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | Stanford University Fordham University[3] |
| Spouse | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Historian |
| Institutions | Stanford University Yale University Central European University[1][2] |
Ivo Banac (Croatian pronunciation:[ǐːʋobǎːnats]; 1 March 1947 – 30 June 2020) was aCroatian-American historian, a professor of European history atYale University and a politician of the formerLiberal Party in Croatia, known as the Great Bard of Croatian historiography.[4] As of 2012[update], Banac was a consultant for theBosnian Institute.[5] He died after a serious illness at age 73.[6]
Banac was born in Dubrovnik in 1947.[7] In 1959 he emigrated to the United States with his mother, reuniting with his father who had escaped from Yugoslavia in 1947.[8] After his father's death in a traffic accident a year later, Ivo lived with his mother inNew York City,[8] where he studied history atFordham University, graduating in 1969.[3] In the same year Banac moved toCalifornia,[8] where he obtained M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from theStanford University.[3] Although he was a member ofStudents for a Democratic Society, by his own account he was not attracted by theWest Coastflower power movement of the late 1960s.[8]
Banac worked at the Stanford University Department of History and Linguistics from 1972 to 1977,[1] and then moved back to theEast Coast to teach atYale University. While at Yale, he earned histenure, and was a two-time master ofPierson College.[8] His 1984 bookThe National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics was awarded theWayne S. Vucinich Prize for the best North American book in the field of Russian and Eastern European studies.[9][10]
During his stay in the United States, Banac regularly visited Yugoslavia.[8] While visiting Zagreb in 1971, he metVlado Gotovac andFranjo Tuđman, who would both become major Croatian political figures after the fall of communism.[8] Banac remained in close contact with Gotovac until his death in 2000;[8] on the other hand, he reportedly didn't think highly of Tuđman, describing him as a person who could not tolerate dissent.[8] Nonetheless, Banac organized Tuđman's lecture atYale University in 1990.[8]
In 1990, Banac was accepted as an associate member in theCroatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.[11] Between 1994 and 1999 he was the director of the Institute on Southern Europe at theCentral European University,Budapest. From 1990 onwards, Ivo Banac was also active in Croatian politics. He joined theCroatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and became one of the strongest critics ofFranjo Tuđman and his government, especially with regards to policy towardsBosnia and Herzegovina. He expressed his criticism in a column written forFeral Tribune. After the HSLS split in 1997, Banac joined theLiberal Party, keeping a critical distance towards the government even after LS became part of a new governing left-centre coalition in 2000.
He often accusedIvica Račan of theSDP of not doing enough to reverse the negative policies of Tuđman's era. Many were surprised to find Banac, who had a reputation of a maverick and independent intellectual, become the leader of the LS. It was even more surprising to see him take the post of Minister of Environmental Protection in 2003. He held that post for only a few months, until the SDP - the party with whom the LS was aligned - lost the election to a rejuvenated HDZ.[citation needed]
He was elected to the Croatian Parliament in the2003 Croatian parliamentary election.[12] After the elections, Banac advocated a merger of all liberal parties in Croatia. This policy was opposed byZlatko Kramarić who orchestrated Banac's removal from the party leadership in 2004. Banac left the LS in February 2005 and was an independent representative in theSabor for the rest of his term.[12] He was publicly criticized for having allegedly mishandled public funds, by renting his personal apartment to himself as office space, as well as furnishing it with taxpayers money.[13] Banac replied, to accusations that such actions constitute mishandling of public funds, that while "the data published in the media are correct, it is all a matter of interpretation, is the glass half full or half empty".[14] Between 2007 and 2009, Banac was the President of theCroatian Helsinki Committee.
At Yale, he was the Bradford Durfee Professor of History Emeritus.[2] He also served as the director of the Council onEuropean Studies atYale University.
In his later years, Banac was accused ofhistorical revisionism. In a 2017 lecture organized by theRoman Catholic Diocese of Požega Banac stated among other things, that theUstaše movement was based on the tradition ofHajduks and could not be identified with modern fascist movements. Banac also blamed World War II in Yugoslavia on theKing Alexander dictatorship and stated that Communism caused much greater damage than fascism.[15][non-tertiary source needed]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theLiberal Party 2003–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by | President of theCroatian Helsinki Committee 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
