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After Tito's death in 1980, the
contradictions within Yugoslavia became clear. However,
Montenegro remained loyal for a long time behind Serbia
during the wars and crises in the traces of the
disintegration of Yugoslavia: first as part of a
"residual Yugoslavia", then as part of a looser union.
However, following a 2006 referendum, Montenegro
proclaimed its independence.
Yugoslavia's economic success and Tito's cohesive
power had hidden the system's inherent contradictions.
But in the 1970s, the country began to have financial
problems, which only worsened during the 1980s. At the
same time, the internal contradictions increased.
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ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Montenegro. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
The 1974 constitution, which was created after a
Croatian uprising, gave the republics extensive
self-government and at the same time weakened Serbia's
influence, when the Serbian provinces of Kosovo and
Vojvodina gained far-reaching autonomy. After Tito's
death in 1980, the Serbs began to work for a
redistribution of power within their own republic and
the federation as a whole. In 1987, Slobodan Milošević
became leader of the Serbian Communist Party in a coup
d'état and two years later he was elected Serbian
president. Milošević fought to "restore the Serbs'
importance" and made Kosovo a symbolic issue. In 1988,
demonstrations in Montenegro, probably organized from
Serbia, led to the replacement of the Montenegrin
Communist regime with a more central government and
Milošević-loyal leadership.
 Up until the end of the 1990s, Montenegro came to a
loyal end behind Serbia during all wars and crises.
The increased contradictions led to Slovenia and
Croatia calling for a looser federation, without hearing
it. They also wanted to see a more modern and more open
Communist Party (the only allowed party), which led to
the dissolution of the Yugoslav Communist League in
1990. The Communists remained at the sub-republic level
but often chose to call themselves socialists or social
democrats.
Yugoslavia is falling apart
The same year, for the first time, a multi-party was
held in all the six Yugoslav republics. Nationalist
parties won in four sub-republics, while the Communists,
who also pursued a nationalist policy, retained power in
Serbia and Montenegro. Unlike the others, Serbs and
Montenegrins wanted to strengthen the federation. In
1991, however, the political, and economic,
disintegration continued. In practice, the Yugoslav
Federation ceased to function and in June 1991 Slovenia
and Croatia declared their independence. Shortly
thereafter, the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav People's Army
went under attack but the fighting in Slovenia was blown
off after ten days. The war in Croatia, where, among
other things, Montenegrin troops were behind the
shooting of the city of Dubrovnik, became more
prolonged. Effortless attempts were made by the outside
world to resolve the conflict.
In the spring of 1992, Bosnians and Macedonians also
voted to move out of Yugoslavia. In Macedonia (later
renamed Northern Macedonia) the transition became
peaceful. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, civil war broke out
since the EU, despite Serbian protests, recognized the
independence of the republic in April 1992. Shortly
thereafter, the Belgrade Federal Parliament adopted a
new constitution, thus creating the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia with only two states: Serbia and Montenegro.
Serbian advancement in Bosnia
The Yugoslav People's Army formally withdrew from the
war in Bosnia, but its tactics to "send home" the
Bosnian Serbs in the army with weapons during the
outbreak of war contributed to the Serbs being able to
subdue about 70 percent of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a short
time. In conquered areas, the non-Serbian civilian
population was driven away, killed or put in
concentration camps. All parties to the war used these
methods, but the Serbs put them into systems.
In the summer of 1995, however, the war turned back:
partly, the Croats took back two areas in Croatia that
the Serbs held, and partly the US intervened in the war,
after the Bosnians captured and murdered about 8,000 men
in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in southeastern
Bosnia, which the UN promised to protect.
The three Presidents Slobodan Milošević from Serbia,
Franjo Tuđman (Tudjman) from Croatia and Alija
Izetbegović from Bosnia-Herzegovina were forced to
negotiate at an air base in Dayton, Ohio, USA. Milošević
had a mandate to negotiate for the Bosnian Serbs, whose
leaders could not leave their country without risking
being presented to the War Criminal Tribunal in The
Hague. On November 21, 1995, the parties signed a peace
agreement (the Dayton Agreement), thereby lifting most
of the financial sanctions against Belgrade as the EC
(EU predecessor) and the United Nations introduced in
1991 and 1992, respectively. Although the war never came
to war on Serbian or Montenegrin land the Yugoslav
Federation was badly affected by the condemnations of
the outside world, by UN sanctions, by large streams of
refugees and by the general brutalization of society in
the wake of the war.
War in Kosovo
When war broke out also in Kosovo in the spring of
1999, Montenegro tried to stay out. When NATO, in order
to end the war, launched a bomb attack on the rest of
Yugoslavia, it focused mainly on Serbia, although a few
military facilities in Montenegro were also destroyed.
However, the civilian population was not hit as hard as
in Serbia.
Domestic politics, Yugoslavia continued to be
dominated by Milošević, who in 1997 was elected Yugoslav
president. A weak and disagreeable opposition enabled
him to maintain his relatively strong position. As long
as the economic sanctions were in full force, all
problems could also be blamed on the outside world. When
the sanctions were largely lifted without significantly
improving the situation, the situation became a
different one.
Before the 2000 federal parliamentary elections,
Milošević tried to change the constitution so that he
could be re-elected for another eight years, which
widened the gap between Serbia and Montenegro. The
Montenegrin political leadership under Milo Šukanović
(Djukanovic) increasingly distanced himself from the
decisions of the Federal Parliament. Nor did a majority
of Montenegrins take part in the elections to the
federal presidential post and the federal parliament
that Milošević had proclaimed prematurely until
September 2000 and which subsequently led to his case
and that he was extradited to the war criminal court in
The Hague.
Union of Serbia and Montenegro
The relationship between Serbia and Montenegro became
more and more problematic over time. In Montenegro, many
people relied on "big brother figures" from Serbia. Many
Montenegrin also felt that they were being unfairly
involved in taking on the blame for a conflict that the
Serbs started. The Montenegrins further claimed that
they have their own language and their own Montenegrin
culture and history, separate from the Serbian.
During Milo Šukanović, Montenegro approached the West
on its own. The economic reform process (including the
privatization of companies and banks) had taken longer
than in Serbia. Šukanović eventually also wanted a
referendum on independence and Montenegro had adopted
its own flag, national anthem and national day.
As a compromise to keep the two countries together,
the Union of Serbia and Montenegro was established in
2003, with the help of pressure from the EU. Within the
EU, there was concern that an independent Montenegro
would inspire other Balkan groups, such as the Serbs in
Bosnia and the Albanians in Kosovo, to demand
sovereignty. The Montenegro government reluctantly
agreed to wait three years to hold a referendum on
independence.
When the referendum was held on May 21, 2006, 55
percent of Montenegro's citizens voted yes, while 44
percent wanted to keep the connection to Serbia. In
early June 2006, Montenegro's parliament first voted and
two days later Serbia's parliament for independence for
each sub-republic.
Independent Montenegro
Montenegro's independence came into force on June 3,
2006. The population of the new nation was divided:
coastal and urban residents as well as the Albanian and
Bosnian minorities were largely for independence while
the population inland and against the border with Serbia
was mostly opposed.
Negotiations on how the resolution was to be
implemented, as well as assets and liabilities
allocated, began immediately, partly with the help of
the EU.
The parliamentary elections in September 2006 were
won by the incumbent government under Šukanović and the
Coalition for a European Montenegro (where the Prime
Minister's Socialist Party, DPS, was the largest party),
got its own majority in Parliament.
When the newly elected parliament was to write a new
constitution, the work was characterized by
contradictions between the government parties and the
Serbia-friendly opposition, and the government had to
compromise on several points. The most important was
that although Montenegrin was designated as official
language, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian were
also given official status. In 2007, the new
constitution was adopted by Parliament.
Temporary drop-off
Shortly after the election, Šukanović left his post
to engage in business - successful, it would prove. In
the summer of 2007, Italian authorities had begun to
investigate his possible involvement in organized
crime's extensive cigarette smuggling. Šukanović,
however, had one leg left in politics when he remained
as party leader for DPS and when his successor as prime
minister resigned for health reasons in January 2008, he
was asked to re-form government.
Presidential elections were held in April 2008. The
incumbent President Filip Vujanović won by more than
half the votes, which was seen as a confirmation of DPS
popularity among the residents.
In December 2008, Montenegro applied for EU
membership (see Foreign Policy and Defense). In January
2009, President Vujanović announced early elections to
Parliament until March, when Parliament and the
government needed a full four-year term to meet the
requirements for EU and NATO membership. Despite growing
economic problems in the wake of the global financial
crisis, the governing coalition won a majority of
parliamentary mandates.
In 2010, Montenegro gained official status as a
candidate country for EU membership. Shortly after the
EU decision, Prime Minister Milo Šukanović resigned. It
was rumored that the EU had demanded his departure to
approve Montenegro as a candidate country. The reason
would be Šukanović's alleged ties to organized crime. He
was succeeded by Finance Minister Igor Lukšić, but
remained as the leader of the DPS.
EU candidate
To give Montenegro a start date for membership
negotiations, the EU called for a new electoral law,
which guaranteed the minorities a certain proportion of
seats in the national and municipal assemblies. Only
after a compromise on the status of the Serbian language
at school (the school subject was called
"Montenegrin-Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian") Parliament
voted unanimously through the new electoral law. In June
2012, the EU decided that membership negotiations could
begin, but the Union's foreign ministers also demanded
an examination of how Montenegro coped with the fight
against drug smuggling, money laundering and corruption.
In the 2012 parliamentary elections, the ruling
left-wing coalition, consisting of the DPS, the Social
Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party (LPCG),
declined somewhat. In order to reach a majority in
Parliament, two mandates were missing, the government
coalition needed to seek support from the ethnic
minorities.
For the eighth time, DPS leader Milo Šukanović was
appointed head of government. Šukanović explained that
the government's course was fixed in the quest for EU
membership. However, the EU demanded a really tough grip
on the corruption and crime that gave Montenegro a
reputation as a "mafia state". Šukanović also suspected
himself of conspiring with the mafia, but his
involvement in cigarette smuggling had not been proven
by Italian authorities. It is clear that his family, in
connection with privatizations in the mid-2000s, had to
take over the country's largest bank, Prva Banka (First
Bank), at a low cost. While almost only public funds
were invested in the bank, withdrawals, including in the
form of favorable loans, were largely made by the
Šukanović family and related persons.
Vujanović re-elected
In the April 2013 presidential election, popular
sitting President, Filip Vujanović of DPS, resigned
despite having already served a maximum of two five-year
terms. However, since his first presidential term began
before Montenegro's independence, many thought that it
should not be counted. Vujanović was declared a winner
with 51.2 percent of the vote, but the opposition
accused him of electoral fraud, boycotted his
installation in parliament and held protest
demonstrations.
New protests were held in February 2014 against the
Šukanović regime, which was accused of high
unemployment, neglect of the economy and corruption. In
the fall of 2015, extensive and protracted
demonstrations broke out in Podgorica and other cities
demanding that the government resign. The opposition
alliance Democratic Front (DF) was behind the
protesters. The government said they had evidence that
they had the support of Russia and of nationalist
circles in Serbia (however, the Serbian government would
not be involved) with the aim of preventing Montenegrin
membership in NATO and the EU.
At the beginning of 2016, on Šukanović's own
initiative, a vote of confidence was held in Parliament
on him and his government. Šukanović was supported by a
majority, but had the government reshuffled, where the
opposition also got some representatives, pending "free
and fair elections" which were promised until October
2016. In the election, DPS again became the largest
party with twice as many votes as the opposition with DF
at the head. After the election victory, however,
Šukanović chose to refrain from forming a new government
in favor of his close confidant, Duško Marković, who
among other things was the Minister of the Interior and
head of the intelligence service.
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