Živorad Kovačević
Encyclopedia
Živorad Kovačević was a Yugoslav (Serbia
n) diplomat
, politician
, NGO activist, academic and writer.
, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
(present-day Serbia), of father Ilija, who spent World War II as a prisoner in Mauthausen
, and mother Darinka. His older brother, Radovan, was killed by Germans in Jagodina in 1941; he is survived by an older sister, Stojanka. Živorad Kovačević was educated at an all-male Gymnasium called "Šesta Muška" in Belgrade
, and then the Journalist Diplomatic Academy (Viša Novinarsko-Diplomatska Škola) graduating in 1952. He received his M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley
in 1961, and specialized in international relations at Harvard University
in 1963.
He served as Deputy Mayor and then Mayor of Belgrade
for eight years, from 1974 to 1982. During his tenure, Sava Centar was built in time to host the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, as well as the Hotel InterContinental for the meeting of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank
. Many other projects were carried out during this period, most notably, Ada Ciganlija
and Klinički Centar Srbije (Serbian Clinical Center). Kovačević was quoted as being proud of the fact that each year during his term between 10,000 and 12,000 apartments were built in the capital. On a more symbolic level, as a mayor, he set up a monument to Karađorđe (the leader of the first Serbian uprising against the Turks) on the great lawn in front of the National Library of Serbia
.
From 1982 to 1986, Kovačević was a Minister in the government of Milka Planinc
, a Prime Minister of Yugoslavia who tried to undertake economic reform after years of stagnation. Working in the federal government, he was a member of the Federal Executive Council, as well as the President of the Foreign Affairs Commission, paving the way to a career that was more international in perspective.
Kovačević was appointed Ambassador of Yugoslavia to the United States
in 1987, but was recalled in 1989 after his disapproval of Slobodan Milosević
's policy, which he openly criticized in Washington. He was noted as one of a few citizens of Belgrade who met six American presidents, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon
, Gerald Ford
, Jimmy Carter
, Ronald Regan, and George Bush
, and five Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger
, Cyrus Vance
, George P. Shultz
, James Baker
, and Lawrence Eagleburger
.His personal contribution, while ambassador in the USA, in sending Nikola Tesla
's assets from the United States to Belgrade is widely acknowledged.
. He was the President of the Forum on International Relations, and in 1994, he joined the European Movement in Serbia, whose president he was to become in 1999. He held that position for the rest of his life.
Based on his personal account, Kovačević was offered the post of Foreign Minister in the Government of Milan Panić
in 1992, but was prevented by Borisav Jović
from taking it.
Kovačević was one of the founders of the Igman Initiative, which rallies 140 organizations in the so-called 'Dayton Triangle' (Serbia
, Montenegro
, Croatia
, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
). The Igman Initiative launched a "mini-Schengen" project, to bring about better relations on the territory of Former Yugoslavia similar to those that exist in the European Union
, primarily in terms of a visa-free regime. The organization was founded following Kovačević's endeavors in April 1995, when, with a group of 38 anti-war intellectuals and activists from FR Yugoslavia, Kovačević crossed Mount Igman
to join and support the citizens of Sarajevo during the siege.
Kovačević was the first President of the Foreign Relations Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, established in 2007.
and Podgorica
, often lecturing about U.S. foreign policy and the break-up of Yugoslavia. He delivered his last lecture a week before his death.
who is a native, citizen, and resident of a nation other than the United States of America, and who has a distinguished record of service to his or her country.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n) diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, NGO activist, academic and writer.
Early life and education
Živorad Kovačević was born in JagodinaJagodina
Jagodina is a city and municipality located in central Serbia, 136 km south of Belgrade, on the banks of Belica River. Its name stems from the word for strawberry in Serbian. It is the administrative centre of the Pomoravlje District of Serbia...
, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
(present-day Serbia), of father Ilija, who spent World War II as a prisoner in Mauthausen
Mauthausen
Mauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
, and mother Darinka. His older brother, Radovan, was killed by Germans in Jagodina in 1941; he is survived by an older sister, Stojanka. Živorad Kovačević was educated at an all-male Gymnasium called "Šesta Muška" in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, and then the Journalist Diplomatic Academy (Viša Novinarsko-Diplomatska Škola) graduating in 1952. He received his M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1961, and specialized in international relations at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1963.
Political career
Kovačević worked as the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Komuna (1954-1962), Director of Public Administration Institute (1962–1964), Vice-Secretary of the Executive Council of Serbia (1964–1967), and Secretary General of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (1967–1973).He served as Deputy Mayor and then Mayor of Belgrade
Mayor of Belgrade
The Mayor of Belgrade is the head of the City of Belgrade . He acts on behalf of the City, and performs an executive function in the City of Belgrade. The position of the Belgrade mayor is important as the city is the most important hub of economics, culture and science in Serbia...
for eight years, from 1974 to 1982. During his tenure, Sava Centar was built in time to host the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, as well as the Hotel InterContinental for the meeting of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. Many other projects were carried out during this period, most notably, Ada Ciganlija
Ada Ciganlija
Ada Ciganlija , colloquially shortened to Ada, is a river island that has artificially been turned into a peninsula, located in the Sava River's course through central Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name can also refer to the adjoining artificial Sava Lake and its beach...
and Klinički Centar Srbije (Serbian Clinical Center). Kovačević was quoted as being proud of the fact that each year during his term between 10,000 and 12,000 apartments were built in the capital. On a more symbolic level, as a mayor, he set up a monument to Karađorđe (the leader of the first Serbian uprising against the Turks) on the great lawn in front of the National Library of Serbia
National Library of Serbia
The National Library of Serbia is the national library of Serbia, located in the city of Belgrade, .-History:...
.
From 1982 to 1986, Kovačević was a Minister in the government of Milka Planinc
Milka Planinc
Milka Planinc was an ethnic Croatian Yugoslav politician. She served as a Prime Minister of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986. She was the first female head of government in the history of real socialism...
, a Prime Minister of Yugoslavia who tried to undertake economic reform after years of stagnation. Working in the federal government, he was a member of the Federal Executive Council, as well as the President of the Foreign Affairs Commission, paving the way to a career that was more international in perspective.
Kovačević was appointed Ambassador of Yugoslavia to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1987, but was recalled in 1989 after his disapproval of Slobodan Milosević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
's policy, which he openly criticized in Washington. He was noted as one of a few citizens of Belgrade who met six American presidents, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Ronald Regan, and George Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, and five Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
, George P. Shultz
George P. Shultz
George Pratt Shultz is an American economist, statesman, and businessman. He served as the United States Secretary of Labor from 1969 to 1970, as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1972 to 1974, and as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989...
, James Baker
James Baker
James Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
, and Lawrence Eagleburger
Lawrence Eagleburger
Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger was an American statesman and former career diplomat, who served briefly as the United States Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush. Previously, he had served in lesser capacities under Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H....
.His personal contribution, while ambassador in the USA, in sending Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
's assets from the United States to Belgrade is widely acknowledged.
NGO activities
After his recall from the post of the Ambassador to the United States in 1989, Kovačević retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spent the rest of his life as a prominent NGO activist and promoter of Serbia's integration in the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. He was the President of the Forum on International Relations, and in 1994, he joined the European Movement in Serbia, whose president he was to become in 1999. He held that position for the rest of his life.
Based on his personal account, Kovačević was offered the post of Foreign Minister in the Government of Milan Panić
Milan Panic
Milan Panić or Milan Panic is a Serbian American multimillionaire, a Newport Beach and Pasadena, California-based business tycoon. He served as Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992-1993...
in 1992, but was prevented by Borisav Jović
Borisav Jovic
Borisav Jović is a former Serbian communist politician, who served as the Serbian member of the collective presidency of Yugoslavia during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
from taking it.
Kovačević was one of the founders of the Igman Initiative, which rallies 140 organizations in the so-called 'Dayton Triangle' (Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
). The Igman Initiative launched a "mini-Schengen" project, to bring about better relations on the territory of Former Yugoslavia similar to those that exist in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, primarily in terms of a visa-free regime. The organization was founded following Kovačević's endeavors in April 1995, when, with a group of 38 anti-war intellectuals and activists from FR Yugoslavia, Kovačević crossed Mount Igman
Igman
Igman is a mountain in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is found directly to the southwest of Sarajevo, bordering Bjelašnica mountain and the city of Ilidža. Igman's highest point, Vlahinja Ridge, is 1502 meters , making it the shortest of the Sarajevo mountains.Igman is a popular destination...
to join and support the citizens of Sarajevo during the siege.
Kovačević was the first President of the Foreign Relations Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, established in 2007.
Academic activities
In parallel with his work in helping build democratic relations in Serbia and elsewhere, Kovačević was a prolific writer. Following his long-term passion for languages and the written word, he published the first dictionary of idioms (both English-Serbian and Serbian-English). To these, he added one of his most popular works, "Lažni prijatelji u engleskom jeziku: zamke doslovnog prevođenja" (False Friends in the English Language: Traps of Literal Translation), as well as a number of titles on international relations and negotiation. He taught international negotiations at the Diplomatic Academy and the Department of Political Sciences in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Podgorica
Podgorica
Podgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
, often lecturing about U.S. foreign policy and the break-up of Yugoslavia. He delivered his last lecture a week before his death.
Awards
In 2000, Kovačević was awarded The Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award that "honors an alumnus of the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
who is a native, citizen, and resident of a nation other than the United States of America, and who has a distinguished record of service to his or her country.
Personal life
Živorad Kovačević spent more than half a century married to Margita Kovačević, who died only three months before him. They shared a life as well as beliefs; she was with him every step of the way, among other things, taking part in demonstrations to protest the local election fraud during the reign of Slobodan Miošević. “Rain or shine we went there every day for 88 days,” Kovačević said.External links
- European Movement in Serbia (Serbian)
- European Movement in Serbia In Memoriam (Serbian)
- European Movement in Serbia (English)
- Igman Initiative (English)
- Haas Award