Dragoljub Kojčić (; born 27 March 1954) is a Serbian politician, administrator, author, and political analyst. He was the leader of the Serb Democratic Party of Serbia (SDSS) from 1997 to 2003, a deputy minister in the transitional government after the fall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, and a member of the Serbian parliament from 2004 to 2007, serving with the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). He has written extensively on Serbian history and politics and is a frequent commentator in the Serbian media.
Early life and career Kojčić was born in Belgrade, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. As a student at the First Belgrade Gymnasium in 1971, he and some of his friends grew their hair out in the spirit of the era's counter-culture. When the school's principal told them not to return until they cut their hair, they went to the offices of Politika to plead their case in the national media. Although the principal later threatened them with expulsion, they received letters of support from throughout Yugoslavia and were reportedly protected by Ivica Račan, at the time a leading figure in the League of Communists.Zoran Radisavljević, "Korupcija na tržištu udžbenika, Politika, 4 August 2016, accessed 28 December 2024.
Kojčić is a graduate of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. He was one of the founders of the journal Država in 1990 and was its editor-in-chief in 1996–97.ПОЛИТИЧКИ САВЕТ, , New Serbia, accessed 28 December 2024. He has also been an editor for the Serbian Literary Gazette (Srpski književni glasnik) and has served on the editorial board of Zenit.Jasmina Lukač, "Strela vremena", Danas, 5 March 2013, accessed 28 December 2024. His interests extend to areas including music, the visual arts, film, and the history of religion.Драгољуб Којчић, Prometej, accessed 28 December 2024.Zoran Radisavljević, "Korupcija na tržištu udžbenika, Politika, 4 August 2016, accessed 28 December 2024.
Political career Early years Kojčić joined the People's Radical Party (NRS) after the re-introduction of multi-party politics to Serbia in 1990. He sought election for Stari Grad's second constituency in the 1990 Serbian parliamentary election and was not successful. Serbia afterward introduced a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections, and in the December 1992 vote Kojčić led the electoral list of Blažo Perović's Democratic Fatherland Coalition in the Belgrade constituency.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Београд), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024. The list did not cross the electoral threshold for assembly representation.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године – РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 February 2024.
Serb Democratic Party of Serbia In 1997, Kojčić became the leader of the Serb Democratic Party of Serbia. This party had connections to the Serb Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although unlike that party it was a relatively minor force in the political culture of the region.
Kojčić signed a petition in late 1997 calling for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to suspend its proceedings against former Bosnian SDS leader Radovan Karadžić."Ko su srpski intelektualci koji stite Radovana Karadzica", Naša borba, 21 November 1997, accessed 28 December 2024. In the same period, he travelled to Pale in the Republika Srpska to protest against the closure of the nationalist Serb Radio and Television outlet by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).NEWS REVIEW, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, Srpska Republika News Agency (SRNA), 97-10-06, made available by hri.org, accessed 28 December 2024.
He criticized the Serbian government's decision to hold a referendum on foreign mediation in Kosovo in April 1998, arguing that government was seeking to shift the burden of its own policy failures to the Serbian public.NEWS REVIEW, REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, Srpska Republika News Agency (SRNA), 98-04-13, made available by hri.org, accessed 28 December 2024.
In June 1998, Kojčić made a guest appearance at a convention of the Democratic Party of Serbia."Odrzanju SPS na vlasti pomazu radikali i SPO", Naša borba, 29 June 1998, accessed 28 December 2024.
Kojčić's early years as leader of the Serb Democratic Party of Serbia coincided with a period when the Serbian National Renewal (SNO) movement was a constituent part of the organization. In the late 1990s, SNO leader Mirko Jović negotiated with Democratic Party (DS) leader Zoran Đinđić to bring the SDSS into Đinđić's "Alliance for Change," a coalition of parties opposed to the continued rule of Slobodan Milošević and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Jović has said that the main board of the SDSS voted to join the Alliance for Change but that Kojčić refused to implement the decision, leading to a party split and the departure of the SNO.Mirjana R. Milenković, "Srpska narodna obnova prva je nacionalna stranka nastala nakon pada komunizma u Srbiji: Jedan od osnivača je i otac premijera Miloša Vučevića", Danas, 27 July 2024, accessed 28 December 2024.
After the fall of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000, a transitional government was established comprising the Socialist Party of Serbia, the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), and the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS). Kojčić was appointed as deputy minister of relations with Serbs outside Serbia], a role he held until a new government was formed in January 2001.ПОЛИТИЧКИ САВЕТ, , New Serbia, accessed 28 December 2024.Jasmina Lukač, "Strela vremena", Danas, 5 March 2013, accessed 28 December 2024.
Serbia's electoral laws were reformed again in late 2000, such that the entire country because a single electoral division and all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties and coalitions, irrespective of numerical order.Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, , accessed 7 April 2024.
Democratic Party of Serbia In November 2003, the Democratic Party of Serbia announced that Kojčić would appear on its electoral list as a representative of the SDSS in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election."Na listi DSS Nikola Milošević, Ljušić, Sanda Rašković", B92, 28 December 2024. Kojčić ultimately appeared in the thirty-first position on the list and was given a mandate when the list won fifty-three seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ - ВОЈИСЛАВ КОШТУНИЦА), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024."Skupština čeka demokrate", , Glas javnosti, 13 January 2004, accessed 28 December 2024. The SDSS appears to have dissolved soon after the election, and Kojčić served afterward in the national assembly as a member of the DSS.Списак народних посланика, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 20 April 2004, accessed 28 December 2024.Jasmina Lukač, "Strela vremena", Danas, 5 March 2013, accessed 28 December 2024. This source states that Kojčić "drowned" the SDSS in the DSS. In November 2004, he was elected as a member of the DSS's main board."Izabrani novi članovi GO DSS-a", B92, 21 November 2004, accessed 28 December 2024.
The DSS became the dominant party in Serbia's coalition government after the 2003 election. Kojčić was a government supporter and served on the foreign affairs committee and the committee on relations with Serbs outside Serbia.Детаљи о народном посланику: КОЈЧИЋ, ДРАГОЉУБ, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 22 March 2004, accessed 28 December 2024.
His relationship with the DSS leadership deteriorated over the course of his parliamentary term. Kojčić angrily denied reports that he had negotiated with Bogoljub Karić to join the Strength of Serbia Movement (PSS) in 2005, but he made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the DSS, saying, "It would be useful for the party for me to be vice president, but I am a nuisance to those who are afraid of my professional authority and competence." He was appointed as the leader of the DSS's political council after this time. He was ultimately not included in party's 2007 electoral list, and his parliamentary tenure ended in that year.M. Čekerevac, "Promenio stranku, ali zadržao istu funkciju", Politika, 28 August 2007, accessed 28 December 2024.
New Serbia In August 2007, Kojčić left the Democratic Party of Serbia to join New Serbia (NS). He was quoted as saying, "I simply did not have room for political activity in the DSS, I am not interested in positions, but I want to be actively involved in politics, and I will be able to do that in New Serbia [...] the programs are similar, so I have not changed my political beliefs." On joining New Serbia, he was appointed as the leader of its political council.M. Čekerevac, "Promenio stranku, ali zadržao istu funkciju", Politika, 28 August 2007, accessed 28 December 2024.ПОЛИТИЧКИ САВЕТ, , New Serbia, accessed 28 December 2024.
New Serbia was generally an ally of the Democratic Party of Serbia in this period, and the two parties ran a combined list in the 2008 Serbian parliamentary election. Kojčić appeared on the list in the 133rd position and was not chosen for a new assembly mandate when the list won thirty seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (3 Демократска Странка Србије - Нова Србија - Војислав Коштуница), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024.1 August 2022 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 28 December 2024. The overall results of the election were inconclusive, but the DS-led For a European Serbia (ZES) alliance ultimately formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party, and the DSS and New Serbia went into opposition. Kojčić left New Serbia after this time.
Attempts to start a new political party Beginning in 2009, Kojčić attempted to start a new party with other former members of the DSS. He released a book of political philosophy entitled The Arrow of Time and the Horizon of Freedom (Strela vremena i horizont slobode), outlining a vision of national conservatism that also favoured Serbia's entry into the European Union (EU). His project was originally called "Serbia 21" and later became known as the "New Deal for Serbia" (Novi dogovor za Srbiju)."Nenad Popović preuzima DSS?", Vesti Online, 15 April 2010, accessed 28 December 2024.Jasmina Lukač, "Strela vremena", Danas, 5 March 2013, accessed 28 December 2024."Mijač: Ne znam ko je Kojčić, ali poslužiće vlasti", Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), 17 May 2013, accessed 28 December 2024.
Kojčić briefly joined the newly formed Rich Serbia (BS) party at the conclusion of these efforts, although this arrangement did not last very long.B. Baković and J. Cerovina, "Nove stranke teško mogu da preskoče cenzus", Politika, 31 July 2011, accessed 28 December 2024.
Serbian Progressive Party