Professor Ph.D Jovan Mirić, full-time professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, was born in Krbavica (Baljkuša), where he completed primary school. He completed both high school and Law School in Zagreb, where he received his Ph.D in 1971 at the Faculty of Political Science. He published ten books and more than 250 scientific and expert works. As a political scientist and a university professor, with the entirety of his work, Mirić contributed to quality discussions about Serbs in Croatian politics, during the period between the 1990’s and today.
Of all of his books, System and Crisis, published in the mid-1980’s, caught the most public attention. In this book professor Mirić gave a critical assessment of the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution and the related social trends, and anticipated what was going to happen several years later. The political establishment perceived this book as undermining against the state and Mirić had been fiercely attacked. “This was true hysteria because my book became the topic of discussion everywhere, from local community boards to societies for protection of songbirds to the Central Committee. Such a reaction to a book which was benign was a sign that the system was rotten. And while the hunting season was still on, there came a turning point in the 1990’s so that both post-Tito and Tuđman’s governments had me completely excommunicated”, Mirić said in one of his last interviews.
During and after the 1990’s war, professor Mirić devoted himself to writing political-legal essays about war, war crimes, guilt and forgiveness. He paid much attention to the position of Serbs in Croatia and criticism of the then government. In those years he wrote what could be called a trilogy – Democracy in Post Communist States – Croatia’s Case, Democracy and Excommunication and Crime and Punishment.
Professor Mirić is one of the recipients of the Serb National Council’s Nikola Tesla award, traditionally reserved for those with merits in contributing to building of Serb institutions. “Without false modesty, I tried not to be noticed. In the introduction of one of my books I wrote that I was writing stealthily to protect myself from harsh winds and storms while remaining able to say what I had to say. I thank those who noticed me nevertheless and read what I had written”, Mirić said on the occasion of receiving the award in 2010. He died on 5 April 2015 in Zagreb.