The Time of Epithets

When and how did the characterization nationalist become an epithet that indicates abuse or contempt? The most obvious advent of the new usage may be found in the journalism and academic writing about the civil wars (1991–95) that doomed the existence of Yugoslavia. Employing nationalist as a negative quantity was made even more explicit by attaching intensifying prefixes such as “ultra” or “extreme.” Searches of newspaper and other archives show that nationalist as a denunciatory epithet has continued in the media to the present day, especially as applied to Serbian politicians. It has also begun to infect the discourse among the political parties in Serbia.