Ideology
The party's core ideology is based on Serbian nationalism, and it subscribes to the idea of Greater Serbia which, according to Šešelj, is the raison d'être of the party. The party also describes itself as anti-globalist, and wants to abandon Serbian attempts to become a member of the European Union. Instead, it aims to establish pan-Slavic "brotherly" ties with Russia, as well as ties with China, and to unite all Balkan Serbs into a single country. In 2007 it advocated the use of force to block the independence of Kosovo. The party remains loyal to the legacy of late President Milošević, and would bring an end to searches for fugitives wanted by the ICTY such as Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić; the party regards both to be "Serbian heroes".
Under the leadership of Nikolić the party steered more towards the centre of Serbian politics, focusing on social issues such as unemployment and poverty rather than militant nationalism. Nikolić and his supporters eventually broke away from the party in 2008 due to his support for the accession of Serbia to the European Union, which conflicted with the position of Šešelj's group who thereafter maintained the party's hardline ideology.
Read more about this topic: Serbian Radical Party
Famous quotes containing the word ideology:
“There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or ideology that does not think that we live in alienation.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)
“Every sign is subject to the criteria of ideological evaluation.... The domain of ideology coincides with the domain of signs. They equate with one another. Wherever a sign is present, ideology is present, too. Everything ideological possesses semiotic value.”
—V.N. (Valintin Nikolaevic)
“Commerce is greedy. Ideology is bloodthirsty.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)