en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek

This clause appears to overstate the length of Žižek’s conscript service.

Two independent biographical sources place Žižek’s military service in Karlovac as a normal stint of compulsory service, not a four-year posting:

• The E-encyclopedia of Slovenian independence/statehood, prepared by the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, says Žižek earned his master’s in 1975, then served his military term in Karlovac ("Vojaški rok služi v Karlovcu"), and after finishing that service he again sought a university job before taking a post in 1977. That timeline leaves roughly the period between 1975 and 1977 for both the service and the unemployment around it — not four years of service by itself.
• Tony Myers’s biography summary on Lacan.com likewise says Žižek spent the next couple of years in the wilderness, undertaking his National Service while also supporting his family. It does not say four years in the army.

Independent evidence on Yugoslav conscription length also contradicts the claim. A summary of The Military Balance, 1959–1970 lists Yugoslavia’s compulsory service as 18 months in the Army and 24 months in the Navy/Air Force. Even using that historical range, a four-year mandatory term in the Yugoslav People’s Army is inconsistent with the documented conscription lengths.

So the article is not wrong that Žižek served in Karlovac; the error is the specific claim that he spent four years doing that national service.