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Serbia Research Paper

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BACKGROUND PAPER
ON
SERBIA
1. Serbia has been the primary mover of regional affairs in the Balkan Peninsula for the past 30 years. This paper will briefly discuss Serbia's history and myth, its involvement in regional unrest, its religion and spiritual ties, how those ties encourage its behavior, and the United States' actions in the region in an attempt to keep the peace and develop Serbia into a stabilizing force for the region.

2. In 1989 Slobodan Milosevic came to power in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, then one of six republics that made up the federation of Yugoslavia, on a platform that aggravated the ethnic tension in the region.1 In 1991 three of the six republics declared independence from Yugoslavia, followed by a fourth in 1992.2 Milosevic launched military campaigns and when the fighting ceased in 1995. The two remaining republics, Serbia and Montenegro, formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.3 In 1997, Serbia began a brutal campaign that involved the massacre of hundreds of civilians, mostly ethnic Albanians, in the region of Kosovo.4 Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and the nation was once again reorganized in 2003.5 In 2006, Montenegro seceded, followed by Kosovo in 2008; a declaration Serbia refuses to acknowledge.6 …show more content…

Religion is deeply rooted in Serbia's history and is to blame for much of the violence the nation has seen recently.7 The people adopted Orthodox Christianity in the late 9th century.8 The church played an instrumental role in helping the Serbs maintain a national identity during nearly five-hundred years of Ottoman rule.9 In Serbia, each ethnic group has also been divided along religious lines. This distinction is largely to blame for the ethnic violence in the region; especially in Kosovo.10 Today, Serbia is predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian at 84.6 percent, followed by Catholic (5 percent), Muslim (3.1 percent - Kosovo is 95.6 percent Muslim11), and Protestant 1

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