The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.
Serbia and Montenegro
(sûr´b, mn´´tn´gr) (KEY) , Serbian Srbija i Crna Gora, formerly Yugoslavia (y´´gslä´v) (KEY) , Serbian Jugoslavija, federal republic (2003 est. pop. 10,800,000), 39,439 sq mi (102,173 sq km), SE Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula, a union of the republics of Serbia and the much smaller Montenegro. Serbia and Montenegro is bordered by the Adriatic Sea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia in the west, Hungary in the north, Romania and Bulgaria in the east, and Macedonia and Albania in the south. Belgrade is the federal capital and by far the largest city.
Inland from the Adriatic coast of Montenegro, where Kotor, the one seaport of the nation, is found, is the barren karst region of Montenegro proper, which lies in the southern end of the Dinaric Alps. Lake Scutari, the nation’s largest lake, is at the southern end of the karst and forms part of the Albanian border. The karst region is separated by the Zeta River and its plain from the higher, largely mountainous regions of the rest of the western and southern sections of the country. The northeast, in Serbia, is part of the fertile Danubian plain and is traversed by the Danube and its tributaries—the Drava, the Sava, the Morava, the Timok, and the Tisza (Serbian Tisa). In addition to the two republics of Serbia and Montenegro, there are two provinces in Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina. The chief cities of Serbia and Montenegro are Belgrade, Novi Sad, Ni, Kragujevac, Pritina, Subotica, and Podgorica.
In Serbia and Montenegro, Serbs are predominant, but ethnic Albanians form a large minority (largely in Kosovo) and there are smaller groups of Montenegrins (closely related to the Serbs and speaking the same language) and of Hungarians (in Vojvodina). Serbs and Montenegrins are two of the five ethnic groups—Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians are the others—that with the Bosniaks make up the South Slavs (Yugoslavs). Closely related linguistically, these peoples are separated by historical and cultural factors that ultimately led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia (see below under History).
The vast majority of inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro belong to the Orthodox Eastern Church (the Serbian Orthodox Church), but there is a significant Albanian Muslim population in Kosovo and the Sanjak region and some Catholics, particularly among the Hungarian population. The official language is Serbian (the eastern dialect of Serbo-Croatian, written with the Cyrillic alphabet). There are universities in Belgrade, Ni, and Novi Sad.
The fertile Danubian plains of Vojvodina prov., in N Serbia, are the most productive agricultural areas. Wheat, corn, hemp, sugar beets, and flax are the chief crops. Serbia proper has extensive vineyards and is a major fruit-growing region; plums are an important crop. Sheep and goat raising are important occupations in Montenegro.
Mining and manufacturing are the largest contributors to the economy; manufacturing is largely concentrated in Serbia proper, which is the most industrially developed region. Manufactures include iron, transport vehicles, and plastics. There are significant deposits of iron, bauxite, and petroleum in Montenegro and large coal reserves in Kosovo. The per capita gross national product for the six-republic Yugoslav federation was $5,000 in 1990, but soaring inflation, a staggeringly high foreign debt, rising unemployment, widespread corruption, and the effects of an international economic blockade brought the economies of Serbia and Montenegro to the brink of collapse in the 1990s.
Serbia and Montenegro is a weak federal republic under the constitutional charter that came into effect in 2003. It has a unicameral parliament consisting of 126 members, 91 of whom come from Serbia and 35 from Montenegro. Members are elected for four-year terms. The president is elected by parliament for a four-year term; the office is held alternately by citizens of the two republics.
A Sketch of Serbian, Montenegrin, and Yugoslavian History to 1990
Slavs settled (6th–7th cent.) in the Balkans and were Christianized in the 9th cent. A Serbian kingdom emerged (13th cent.) and under Stephen Duan (r. 1331–55) became the most powerful Balkan state. Defeat (1389) at Kosovo Field (see under Kosovo) brought Serbia under Turkish domination from the 14th to 19th cent., with Serbia securely in Turkish hands by 1459. At the time of the defeat at Kosovo field the region now constituting Montenegro was the virtually independent principality of Zeta in the Serbian empire. The mountainous principality continued to resist the Turks, but by 1499 most of Montenegro was held by the Turks, while Venice held the port of Kotor and the Montenegrin princes ruled their remnant stronghold from Cetinje. Montenegro’s independence was recognized by the Ottoman Empire in 1799, and in 1829 the Turks granted the Serbs autonomy under a hereditary prince. Montenegro and Serbia were formally recognized as independent states by the European powers at the Congress of Berlin (1878). Serbia was proclaimed a kingdom in 1882, and it emerged from the Balkan Wars (1912–13) as a major Balkan power. (See Serbia and Montenegro for greater detail.)
When a Serbian nationalist assassinated (1914) Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Austria declared war on Serbia, thus precipitating World War I. Serbia and Montenegro were overrun by the Central Powers, but Serbian troops were evacuated to Allied-held Corfu, Greece, where representatives of the South Slavic peoples proclaimed (July, 1917) their proposed union under Serbian king Peter I. Montenegro’s last monarch, Nicholas I, was deposed in 1918, and Montenegro was united with Serbia. In Dec., 1918, the “Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes” was formally proclaimed.
The Paris Peace Conference recognized the new state and enlarged its territory (with Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia) at the expense of Austria and Hungary. Its name was changed to Yugoslavia (sometimes spelled Jugoslavia) in 1929. Yugoslavia faced disputes with Italy (over Fiume [see Rijeka] and Dalmatia), and was torn internally by Croat and Macedonian nationalist movements. Yugoslavia adhered (Mar., 1941) to the Axis Tripartite Pact, but two days later a coup ousted the regent, and the new government proclaimed its neutrality. The next month Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia and quickly won control, partitioning it among Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Croatian and Serbian puppet states. Two main resistance groups coalesced: the chetniks under Mihajlovi and an army under the Communist Tito. In 1943 civil war broke out between the two factions, and Tito, supported by the USSR and Britain, emerged the victor. In 1944 the Germans were driven from Yugoslavia, the Soviet army entered Belgrade, and Tito’s national liberation council was merged with the royal government. The next year Tito became premier, the non-Communist members of the government resigned and were arrested, and national elections—from which the opposition abstained—resulted in a Communist victory. The constituent assembly proclaimed Yugoslavia a federal people’s republic.
The constitution of 1946 gave wide autonomy to the six newly created republics (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia), but actual power remained in the hands of Tito and the Communist party. Under Tito and his “national communism,” or “Titoism,” Yugoslavs possessed greater freedom than the inhabitants of any other Eastern European country. although intellectual freedom was still restricted. In 1963 the country officially became the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In the early 1970s, agitation among the nationalities revived, particularly among the Croats. Although controls over intellectual life were stiffened, the autonomy of the six republics and Serbia’s two autonomous provinces increased through the 1970s. With the death of Tito in 1980, an unwieldy collective leadership was established. Ethnic divisions continued to deepen in the 1980s, as did economic problems. (See Yugoslavia for more detail.)
In 1987, Slobodan Miloevi became the Serbian Communist party leader. To the alarm of most of the other republics Miloevi and his supporters revived the vision of a “Greater Serbia” consisting of Serbia proper, its provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo, the Serb-populated parts of Croatia, large sections of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and possibly Macedonia. In early 1989, Serbia rescinded Kosovo’s autonomy and sent in troops to suppress the protests of Kosovo’s largely Albanian population, an action that helped Miloevi win the Serbian presidency later that year. Slovenia and Croatia elected non-Communist governments in early 1990 and, threatening secession, demanded greater autonomy.
After attempts by Serbia to impose its authority on the rest of the country, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence on June 25, 1991. Fighting immediately broke out as the largely Serbian federal army moved into Slovenia. By the end of July, 1991, however, all federal forces had left Slovenia, although fighting continued throughout the summer between Croatian forces and the federally backed Serbs from Serb areas of Croatia. In Sept., 1991, Macedonia declared its independence, and the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted for independence that October.
In Jan., 1992, a cease-fire was negotiated in Croatia. The European Community (EC; now the European Union) recognized Croatia and Slovenia as independent states, and in April the EC and the United States recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina, which descended into a three-way civil war among Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks. In a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” carried out mostly by the Serbs, thousands of Bosniaks were killed, and many more fled Bosnia or were placed in Serb detention camps.
In May, 1992, the United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro and called for an immediate cease-fire in Bosnia. Serbia and Montenegro declared the establishment of a new Yugoslavian federation (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) in 1992, but the EC (and later the United Nations) announced that the new government could not claim the international rights and duties of the former Yugoslavia, because those rights and obligations had devolved onto the different republics. Macedonian independence was widely recognized the following year. After Serbia reduced its support for the Bosnian Serbs, the United Nations eased the sanctions against Yugoslavia. In late 1995 Yugoslavia (in the person of President Miloevi of Serbia) participated in the talks in Dayton, Ohio, that led to a peace accord among Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia (Yugoslavia). Miloevi became president of all Yugoslavia (consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) in 1997.
Tensions increased in Kosovo in 1997 and 1998, as a period of nonviolent civil disobedience against Serbian rule gave way to the rise of a guerrilla army. In Mar., 1999, following mounting repression of ethnic Albanians and the breakdown of negotiations between separatists and the Serbs, NATO began bombing military targets throughout Yugoslavia. Thousands of ethnic Albanians were forcibly deported from Kosovo by Yugoslav troops. In June, Miloevi agreed to withdraw from Kosovo, and NATO peacekeepers entered the region. Demonstrations in the latter half of 1999 against Miloevi failed to force his resignation. Meanwhile, Montenegro sought increased autonomy within the federation and began making moves toward that goal.
In July, 2000, the national constitution was amended to permit the president to hold office for two terms and to institute direct presidential elections; the changes were designed to permit Miloevi to remain in power beyond a single term and reduce Montenegrin influence in the federal government. When elections were held in September, however. Miloevi was defeated by Vojislav Kotunica, who was supported by a coalition of 18 opposition parties (Democratic Opposition of Serbia; DOS). The election commission initially refused to certify Kotunica as the outright victor, but Miloevi conceded after a general strike was called, demonstrators took over the federal parliament building, and Russia recognized Kotunica.
A coalition consisting of the DOS and Montenegrin Socialists formed a Yugoslav government, and in early elections (Dec., 2000) the DOS won control of the Serbian parliament. Kotunica replaced several top military officers—a move designed in part to placate Montenegro—but he initially refused to hand Miloevi over to the international war crimes court in the Hague. In early 2001 Miloevi and some of his associates in the former government were arrested on various charges. The former president was turned over to the war crimes tribunal by the Serbian government in June, prompting the Montenegrin Socialists to resign from the federal coalition. Relations between Kotunica and Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindji became strained, with the former concerned more about preserving the federation with Montenegro and the latter about winning Western foreign aid and reforming the economy.
In Mar., 2002, Serbian and Montenegrin representatives, under pressure from the European Union and other nations opposed to immediate Montenegrin independence (fearing that it could lead to further disintegration and fighting), agreed on a restructured federal union, and a constitutional charter for a “state community” was adopted by the Serbian, Montenegrin, and federal parliaments by Feb., 2003. Following the federal parliament’s approval of the charter, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as Serbia and Montenegro. Most governmental power shifted to the two republics. Although the two republics have a common foreign and defense policy, they now have separate currencies and customs regulations, and after three years either republic may vote to leave the union. Svetozar Marovic, of Montenegro, was elected president of the union in March.
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and an army under the Communist Tito. In 1943 civil war broke out between the two factions, and Tito, supported by the USSR and Britain, emerged the victor. In 1944 the Germans were driven from Yugoslavia, the Soviet army entered Belgrade, and Tito’s national liberation council was merged with the royal government. The next year Tito became premier, the non-Communist members of the government resigned and were arrested, and national elections—from which the opposition abstained—resulted in a Communist victory. The constituent assembly proclaimed Yugoslavia a federal people’s republic.
