Anthropos 56 (1): 15–36 | issn 0587-5161 | e-issn 2630-4082 Hypochondria as Collective Syndrome? Nationalist-Conservative Hegemony in the Balkans, and How to Fight It Igor Štiks University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Faculty of Media and Communications, Serbia igor.stiks@ff.uni-lj.si © 2024 Igor Štiks Abstract. The post-socialist and post-Yugoslav societies have under- gone a profound transformation under the influence of nationalist- conservative hegemony. I use hypochondria as a heuristic term to elu- cidate the mobilising force of nationalist-conservative ideology, and the pervasive feelings, emotions, perceptions and actions it generates. I argue that hypochondria manifests as an anxious fear of existen- tial threats, either internal or external to our being, and propose to analyse it as a collective syndrome. This approach allows us to ex- amine political narratives and practices that indicate an exaggerated, paranoid anxiety rooted in perceived threats to the political commu- nity. I draw on psychoanalytic theories to describe and examine social and political symptoms such as observable shared emotions, group be- haviours and collective actions. To support the main argument that hypochondria is essential for understanding nationalist-conservative hegemony, I apply Jean-François Bayard’s definition of the national- conservative revolution, adapting his seven points to the post-Yugoslav context. Despite the strong grip of hypochondria on post-Yugoslav societies, I briefly present resistances that have challenged both the nationalist-conservative hegemony and the neo-liberal policies, and that offer hope for significant social and political change. Key Words: nationalism, hypochondria, Yugoslavia, post-socialism, post-Yugoslav states Hipohondrija kot kolektivni sindrom? Nacionalistično- -konzervativna hegemonija na Balkanu in kako se z njo boriti Povzetek. Postsocialistične in postjugoslovanske družbe so pod vpli- vom nacionalistično-konzervativne hegemonije doživele temeljito pre- obrazbo. Hipohondrijo uporabljam kot hevristični pojem za pojasnitev https://doi.org/10.26493/2630-4082.56.15-36