Jovan Marinović
| Jovan Marinović Јован Мариновић |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of Serbia | |
| In office 1873–1874 |
|
| Preceded by | Jovan Ristić |
| Succeeded by | Aćim Čumić |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1821 Sarajevo, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | August 20, 1893 Villers-sur-Mer, France |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Occupation | politician and diplomat |
| Religion | Serbian Orthodox |
Jovan Marinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Мариновић), (1821 – August 30, 1893) was a Serbian politician and diplomat, that introduced several enlightened reforms in Serbian political system. As a close collaborator of powerful Minister Ilija Garašanin, young Jovan Marinović climbed rapidly and become the leader of the Serbian Conservatives, eventually becoming Prime Minister of the Principality of Serbia. Educated in Paris, Marinović was a sophisticated gentleman, who believed in European culture and reforms as a way of enlightening the Serbian peasant society.
Being a member of the first generation of Serbian Western-educated intellectuals, Jovan Marinović occupied several high-ranking posts in the state administration throughout his career.
[edit] Early life
Originating from a Serbian family in Bosnia, Marinović moved to Serbia as a child. He finished secondary school in Kragujevac (1837) and was employed in Chancery of the Prince (Knjaževa kancelarija). He studied in Paris (1841–1842) and returned to Serbia to work in the State Council. Marinović returned to Paris in 1847 in order to finish his studies, but in practice, was the unofficial Serbian representative in France.
[edit] Political career
During the 1848-1849 revolutions, Marinović stayed in France, and in the following years, de facto, was in charge of the foreign policy of Serbia. Although formally in other positions (Secretary of the State Council until 1850), Marinović was, as a special assistant to Ilija Garašanin, in control of the whole network of Serbian political propaganda in the Ottoman Empire. In 1853, Russia asked the dismissal of both Garašanin and his first assistant Marinović for being too close to France and the Paris-based Polish agents of Adam Czartoryski and their representative in Belgrade. Marinović later became Minister of Finance (1856–1858) and the President of the State Council (1861–1873). Between 1861 and 1867 Marinović was anew the first aide of Prime Minister Ilija Garašanin and Prince Mihailo Obrenović, during their ambitious policy of forming a wider Balkan alliance and fomenting a general Christian uprising against the Ottomans. Marinović was sent to confidential missions to St. Petersburg, Paris, London and Constantinople.
Marinović belonged to the political grouping of Serbian Conservatives (Ilija Garašanin, Danilo Stefanović, Nikola Hristić and Filip Hristić). As the highest ranking conservative after Ilija Garašanin, Marinović became Prime Minister on November 3, 1873 under a Liberal-Conservative coalition and kept the portfolio of Foreign Minister (November 3, 1873 to December 7, 1874) as well. By administrative fiat, the Marinović cabinet established freedom of speech and the press, which was an important step in establishing parliamentary democracy. At the session of the Serbian Parliament held on November 27, 1873, the Marinović government presented a set of far-reaching reform laws, including the law on the subsidization of industrial enterprises and the law of six days of land ploughing (“day” meaning a Serbian land measurement equivalent to 5,760 m2), as a minimal privately-owned landed property protected from being sold or repossessed due to debts. This allowed Serbian peasants who were small landowners, at the time often victims of property loss due to predatory lending, to have at least 8.6 acres (35,000 m2) of land (out of the total land which they owned) they could always count on as remaining in their possession. On December 23, 1873, his government instituted the law by which corporal punishment was abolished and the prison system reformed. Other reforms regarding secondary school and Great School were passed as well.
The Marinović government introduced the metric system into Serbia as well as a native silver currency. After losing the majority among Liberal deputies in Parliament in 1874, the Marinović cabinet became the first Serbian government to be toppled in the National Assembly, and called for new elections. After being defeated at the parliamentary elections in October 1874, Marinović resigned. He was appointed Serbian Envoy to Paris from 1879 to 1889.
| Preceded by Jovan Ristić |
Prime Minister of Serbia 1873–1874 |
Succeeded by Aćim Čumić |
[edit] References and further reading
- Pisma Ilije Garašanina Jovanu Marinoviću, vol. I (1848–1858)-II (1859–1874), Srpska kraljevska akademija 1931.414+381.
- Alex Dragnich, The Development of Parliamentary Government in Serbia, Boulder & New York, East European Monograph & Columbia University Press 1978.
- Michael Boro Petrovich, The History of Modern Serbia, vol. I-II, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1976.
- Željan E. Šuster, Historical Dictionary of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Scarecrow Press, Langham Md. & London 1999.
- David MacKenzie, Jovan Marinović: Evropski gospodin i srpski diplomata (1821-1893), Centar za unapredjivanje pavih studija, Beograd 2006..
