Svetoslav Jastrebović
Svetoslav Jastrebović | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait | |
| Vrhovnik of Razaria | |
| In office 16 February 1964 – 26 October 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Radodan Karadsević |
| President of Razaria | |
| In office 20 January 1954 – 15 February 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 July 1897 Bojdan,  Empire of Razaria |
| Died | 26 October 1975 (aged 78) Čirograd, Razaria |
| Cause of death | Myocardial infarction |
| Citizenship | Razarian |
| Political party | Fatherland Party |
| Spouse | Ljudmila Lutoborović |
| Children | Vitezan Jastrebović (born 1928) Sobieslav Jastrebović (born 1933) Ljudodar Jastrebović (born 1933) Vodnica Jastrebović (born 1930) Nenada Jastrebović (born 1937) |
| Parents |
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| Profession | Statesman, politician, agriculturalist |
Svetoslav Jastrebović (Razarian: Ⱄⰲⰵⱅⱁⱄⰾⰰⰲ Ⱑⱄⱅⱃⰵⰱⱁⰲⰹⱍ; 26 July 1897 - 26 October 1975) was a Razarian statesman, 1st Vrhovnik of Razaria from 1964 to 1975, President of Razaria from 1954 to 1964, and architect of the modern Razarian state via the Jastrebovian restoration.
Born to the family of a chemist in Bojdan, a town in western Razaria, Jastrebović studied geography and biology, working in the field of agricultural science as an analyst, surveyor and consultant for farmers, before becoming interested in politics in the 1930s. He first campaigned for a local agrarian party, the Independent League of Peasants, before becoming involved with populism, nationalism and conservatism. The increasingly tense social conflicts and divides in 1930s Razaria convinced Jastrebović the need for radical change based on a nationalist platform, and as a result he joined the Fatherland Party in 1939, becoming an increasingly powerful figure through his skill and charisma, and becoming Party Chairman in 1945. During the Razarian Civil War he organized the Assembly of Patriotic Forces against leftist revolutionaries, succeeding and becoming elected President of Razaria after the APF's victory. Ruling as a de facto dictator, he initiated the Gozar War to eliminate the threat posed by socialist states in West Borea to his rule, but with the war's failure he consolidated his power by the Rectification and Lustration Campaign where figures and groups opposed to him were purged.
In 1964 Jastrebović initiated the Jastrebovian restoration, a programme to reorganize Razaria into a stratocracy and theocracy guided by traditionalism and Costeny, while also promoting isolationism in its vicinity, removing foreign and modern influences from society, and opposing ideologies such as liberalism, socialism and modernism. The framework for the authoritarian government of modern Razaria was fully established with the Restoration. Jastrebović's reforms practically elevated the military and clergy to the top castes of Razarian society, in both their nominal status as well as power exercised. Razaria also started an attempt at establishing autarky, building up industry and rejecting trade, while exercising a planned economy. As an agrarian, Jastrebović considered heavily, and prioritized, the needs of farmers and agriculture in general in Razaria as well. The success of his economic policies was mixed. A military-first policy resulted in Razaria possessing one of the largest militaries in West Borea dwarfed only by Luziyca, while Jastrebović's foreign policy deterred threats to the Razarian regime and secured the country in a favorable position. In 1975 Jastrebović died, succeeded by Radodan Karadsević.
Although he founded a system of government widely regarded as heavily reactionary and authoritarian today, there is dispute to Jastrebović's actual political views and ideology. Historians such as Valentin Barrande argue that Jastrebović remained a pragmatic, conservative agrarian at heart, who initiated the Restoration and adopted policies either due to belief that instituting a traditionalist society would provide farmers with ability to reattain social prominence, or due to pressure from more radical traditionalists, clerics and militarists, which he could have accidentally empowered with his purges; the latter view is most fiercely argued by Oswald Briggs. Others hold that Jastrebović sought only benefit and power for himself in his dictatorship, but astutely reformed Razaria such that a secure and competent government could succeed once he died. Official narratives of his life hold that his political career in the 1930s converted him to a radically traditionalist and reactionary worldview.
Jastrebović has a moderate cult of personality in modern Razaria, although this is not particularly prominent. He is praised as an 'architect of national salvation' with the Jastrebovian restoration's results.