SERBIAN FOLKLORE AND BELGRADE POLITICS: KUMSTVO AND ITS BETRAYAL Prof. Dr. Keith Doubt* A mong Orthodox Serbs, kumstvo has strong cultural signifcance, social organization, and moral expectations. The cultural tradition plays an invisible role in advancing political agendas becoming what is known as what Eugene Hammel calls cigansko kumstvo. Leading politicians in Serbia, who have strong nationalist ideologies, are connected to one another not only politically but also familiarly through the kinship structure called kumstvo. One example is Ivan Stambolić, who was president of Serbia before the succession wars that started in 1992 with the rise of Serbian nationalism. Stambolić was kum to Slobodan Milošević. After the war, Milošević and his wife had Stambolić killed. There are more examples of treachery among Serbian politicians. The objective here is to have a fuller understanding of the cultural, historical, and political signifcance of the role of the ritual kinship in Balkan politics and how it functions within the context of nationalist politics resulting in what could be called state capture. Conceptual literature used will be Steven Lukes’ concept of “mobilization of bias,” Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “the aristocracy of culture,” and Florian Bieber’s concept of “institutionalizing ethnicity.” Introduction In Serbia Through the Ages, Alex Dragnich (2004) reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the Serbian princes Karađorđe Petrović and Miloš Obrenović during the Serbian uprisings against Ottoman oppression from 1804 to 1815. Karađorđe used forcefulness; Miloš used diplomacy. Karađorđe was a lion; Miloš was a fox. Machiavelli wrote, “A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast *Sociology Department , Wittenberg University; United States kdoubth@gmail.com