|
Socialist Yugoslavia was held together with
strong hand by the winner of the war, Tito, and with the
help of a growing economy. But when Tito died in 1980
and the economy simultaneously began to deteriorate, the
contradictions turned out, which in the early 1990s
would lead to war and the country's disintegration.
After the wars, a looser union was established between
Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, but three years later
this was also dissolved and the two sub-republics became
independent states.
Tito was first an obedient disciple of Soviet leader
Josef Stalin. Post-war Yugoslavia had a constitution
built on the Soviet of 1936 and the Communist Party was
the only permissible political force. All opposition was
suppressed and major parts of business were
nationalized.
-
ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Serbia. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
However, Tito's ambition to form an alliance of the
communist-controlled states in the Balkans with himself
as leader led Stalin, who did not want any competition,
to exclude Yugoslavia from the communist community in
1948.
Tito was then forced to turn to the west. He changed
domestic policy and allowed decentralization of economic
decision-making (including through self-management
systems at the factories). Yugoslavia then received
extensive financial and military assistance from the
United States and other Western countries. Only in 1956,
after Stalin's death, did the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia resume their relations.
 The economic successes and Tito's cohesive power have
long concealed the system's inherent conflicts. But in
the 1970s, Yugoslavia began to have financial problems,
which worsened during the 1980s. At the same time, the
internal contradictions increased. The 1974
constitution, created after a Croatian uprising, gave
the republics extensive self-government with their own
governments and administrations. Belgrade's central
government was responsible for foreign policy, defense
and parts of the economy, but the sub-republics were
able to veto important issues and for the most part the
federation's best came second.
Slobodan Milošević to power
The constitution weakened Serbia's influence, as the
Serbian provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina also 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 in 1989 he was
elected Serbian president. Milošević fought to "restore
the Serbs' importance" and made Kosovo a symbolic issue.
The contradictions prompted Slovenia and Croatia to
demand a looser federation, but all reform proposals
were voted down in the federal parliament. When Slovenia
changed its constitution to allow the Republic to leave
Yugoslavia, Serbia responded with economic boycott. At
the congress of the Yugoslav Communist League in January
1990, the contradictions were so great that Slovenia and
Croatia, which wanted a more modern and more open party,
left the congress. Shortly thereafter, the Yugoslav
Communist League disbanded. The Communists remained on
the sub-republic level but often chose to call
themselves socialists or social democrats.
In 1990, for the first time, a multi-party was held
in the six sub-republics. In four of them nationalist
parties won. The Communists, who also pursued a
nationalist policy, retained power in Serbia and
Montenegro. There, unlike the others, they wanted to
strengthen the federation. However, the political and
economic disintegration continued and in practice the
Yugoslav federation ceased to function. In June 1991,
Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence.
Shortly thereafter, the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav
People's Army attacked.
In Slovenia, the fighting was blown off after ten
days, but the war in Croatia became more prolonged.
Disagreement over the border demarcation and the status
of the Serbian minority contributed to the fighting in
August. Effortless attempts were made by the outside
world to resolve the conflict. In January 1992, the EU
recognized Slovenia and Croatia as independent states.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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 in
April since the EU, despite Serbian protests, recognized
the independence of the republic. Shortly thereafter,
the Belgrade Federal Parliament adopted a new
constitution, thus creating the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia with only two states: Serbia and Montenegro.
The Yugoslav People's Army formally withdrew from the
war in Bosnia, but its tactics to "send home" the many
Bosnian Serbs in the army with weapons during the
outbreak of war largely contributed to the Serbs being
able to cover about 70 percent of Bosnia-Herzegovina's
area in a short period of 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 around,
when the Croats took back two areas in Croatia held by
the Serbs, including Krajina. The result was a new large
stream of refugees, now of hundreds of thousands of
Serbs.
In July 1995, the Bosnian Serbs had taken the city of
Srebrenica in southeastern Bosnia, one of the Muslim
enclaves in Bosnia that the UN promised to protect. The
inhabitants were brutally driven away and about 8,000
Muslim men and boys were murdered. This event caused the
United States to intervene.
The sanctions are lifted
The three Presidents Slobodan Milošević from Serbia,
Franjo Tuđman (Tudjman) from Croatia and Alija
Izetbegović from Bosnia-Herzegovina were forced to
negotiate in the US. On November 21, 1995, the parties
signed a peace agreement, in Dayton, Ohio. As a result
of the Dayton Agreement, most of the financial sanctions
against Belgrade were imposed by the EC (now the EU) and
the UN in 1991 and 1992, respectively. - sanctions, of
large streams of refugees and of a general brutalization
of society in the wake of the war.
Domestic politics, Yugoslavia was still dominated by
Milošević. As long as the economic sanctions were in
full force, all the problems could have been blamed on
the incomprehensible world surrounding the Serbs. When
the sanctions were largely lifted without the situation
improving, the situation changed.
Prior to the Serbian municipal elections in 1996,
three opposition parties started a collaboration, and
they won in 14 of the 18 largest cities. However, the
collaboration soon collapsed, as the three party leaders
could not hold the same.
When Milošević was not allowed to stand in the 1997
presidential elections in Serbia, he looked instead to
be elected Yugoslav president. In the Serbian
presidential election, "Milošević's man", Milan
Milutinović, prevailed, and in the contemporary Serbian
parliamentary elections, Milošević's Socialist Party (SPS,
the old Communist Party) with support parties was the
largest. SPS was the old Communist Party, now under
Milošević's leadership.
War in Kosovo
In 1998, the growing conflict between Serbs and the
Albanian majority in Kosovo went to war. Serbian reports
of abuse caused the outside world to intervene; In March
1999, NATO launched a bomb attack on the rest of
Yugoslavia. In June, Milošević was forced to sign a
peace treaty and the UN took over UNMIK through Kosovo's
regime. The war undermined Milošević's position. (See
also Kosovo-Modern History and Conflicts-Kosovo.)
In the run-up to the federal parliamentary elections
that were expected at the end of 2000, Milošević sought
to secure continued power. The Federation's parliament
approved constitutional amendments which meant that he
could be re-elected for another eight years. In
addition, the president would be elected in general
elections, not as before by Parliament. The measure
widened the gap between Serbia and Montenegro. Many
Montenegrins felt that they were being unfairly involved
in taking on the blame for a conflict that the Serbs
started.
Milošević announced at short notice early elections
to the federal presidential and federal parliament and
local elections in Serbia, with the hope that the
divided Serbian opposition would not be able to agree.
However, despite opposition, 18 opposition parties
gathered in the Alliance of Serbia's Democratic
Opposition (DOS) with Vojislav Koštunica (of the
Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS) as joint presidential
candidate.
Milošević is driven away
The regime harassed the opposition before the
election, the freedom of the mass media was further
circumvented and no independent election monitors were
allowed. Roughly independent measurements showed that
Koštunica, despite having won already in the first round
of elections on September 24, but the regime-controlled
electoral commission was still preparing for a second
round. The opposition called for nationwide strikes and
large demonstrations were held against Milošević. The
end came when Serbia's "ally", Russia, took his hand
from him by congratulating the Koštunica for the
electoral victory. Just before the planned second round,
Milošević appeared on television and confessed to being
defeated.
On October 7, 2000, Koštunica was sworn in as
Yugoslavia's new president. DOS became the largest in
the federal parliament, and when a new election to the
Serbian parliament was held in December, DOS gained its
own majority. New Prime Minister of Serbia became Zoran
Đinđić, leader of the Democratic Party (DS), which was
included in the DOS. Milan Milutinović, just as
Milošević is accused of war crimes at the UN General
Court of the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, was allowed
to remain in his post until now but kept a low profile.
Although the Serbian president, according to the
constitution, had more power than the prime minister,
Zoran Đinđić became the most prominent politician.
Both the new Yugoslav and the new Serbian government
said they wanted to invest in economic and democratic
reforms. It also wanted to reach a settlement on
relations with Montenegro and Kosovo within the
federation. However, it became difficult to keep DOS
together with its 18 different parties. While Zoran
Đinđić was clearly Western-oriented, Vojislav Koštunica
was more cautious to the West, especially the United
States. While Đinđić was prepared to extradite Slobodan
Milošević to the International Criminal Tribunal in The
Hague, Koštunica wanted to bring him to trial in
Yugoslavia.
Milošević to The Hague
Milošević was arrested in April 2001 and taken to
prison in Belgrade, accused of misappropriation of
government funds, corruption and abuse of power. In
order for Yugoslavia to receive financial assistance,
the United States demanded that Milošević be extradited
to The Hague. Ðinđić decided on his own, and without
informing Koštunica, that Milošević would be extradited
and he was taken to The Hague. The trial began in
February 2002 (however, he died in 2006, before any
verdict was dropped).
The United States demanded that more suspected war
criminals be extradited to the Hague Court. After much
anguish, the Yugoslav Parliament passed a law that
allowed 23 suspects to be arrested and taken to The
Hague. Among them were Serbia's President Milan
Milutinović as well as former Bosnian Serbs leader
Radovan Karadžić and former commander-in-chief Ratko
Mladić.
Union of Serbia and Montenegro
In February 2003, the Yugoslav Federation was
transformed into a looser state formation, the Union of
Serbia and Montenegro. The following month, Đinđić was
murdered, probably on the order of the organized crime,
since he started a campaign against it.
The presidential election in Serbia in June 2004 was
won by Boris Tadić, who was appointed new leader of DS
earlier that year.
In Kosovo, dissatisfaction increased as no decision
on the future status of the province emerged. The
Albanian majority wanted independence, while the Serbian
minority continued to belong to Serbia. Kosovo was
promised negotiations on its future status when it met
certain demands for democracy, and in early 2006, talks
started in Vienna under the leadership of Finland's
former president Martti Ahtisaari.
Independent Serbia
Montenegro had reluctantly agreed to join the Union
with Serbia, but it was dissolved in June 2006 after a
majority of Montenegrins voted for independence. Serbia
also declared itself independent and adopted a new
constitution that year, more adapted to EU standards but
where it was clearly declared that Kosovo was an
integral part of Serbia.
In a new parliamentary election in 2007, the
ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) was
largely followed by President Tadić's party DS and
Koštunica's DSS. In May, a new coalition government was
formed under Koštunica's leadership.
In the presidential elections in Serbia in early
2008, Boris Tadić was re-elected by a marginal margin.
Shortly thereafter, in February 2008, Kosovo,
unilaterally, declared itself independent of Serbia. The
Kosovo Albanians celebrated but the bitterness was deep
in Serbia and in the Serbian enclaves in the province.
The US and a majority of EU countries quickly recognized
Kosovo, while Russia and China did not.
New government
The Kosovo issue led to the resignation of Prime
Minister Koštunica and in the recent election held in
May 2008, Tadić's EU-friendly party alliance for a
European Serbia prevailed before the Radical Party. Both
parties tried to attract the Socialist Party, which now
elected its former rivals in the Tadić alliance. The new
coalition government promised to push the issue of EU
accession.
Serbia formally applied for EU membership in 2009.
This forced the country to deal with parts of its past.
One obstacle on the way to the EU was that Ratko Mladić
was not arrested, despite being called for his role in
the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica.
The government promised EUR 10 million in 2010 for
tips that led to Mladić being arrested. In addition,
President Tadić improved relations with the arch-enemy
Croatia and declared "war" against Serbia's growing
organized crime, an obstacle on the way to the EU. Drug
smuggling was described as the biggest threat to Serbian
society.
On the way to the EU
In May 2011, Mladić was finally arrested in a village
eight miles north of Belgrade, after 16 years in flight.
He was extradited to The Hague after a few days to be
brought before the War Criminal Tribunal there.
In July of that year, the last of the Hague
Tribunal's list of suspects, Goran Hadžić, who led the
Serbian separatist forces in Croatia during the 1991-95
war, was arrested. Hadžić was also extradited to The
Hague, and the EU declared that Serbia had taken an
important step towards membership in the Union.
President Tadić resigned prematurely in April 2012,
thus paving the way for presidential elections at the
same time as the May elections. The presidential
election was a battle between Tadić and Tomislav Nikolić
who in 2008 broke out of the Radical Party and formed
the Serbian Progress Party (SNS). In the first round,
Tadić won barely but in the second Nikolić won by barely
a margin. Nikolić's party SNS gained a small takeover in
the parliamentary elections.
Nationalists to power
Now Boris Tadić and his DS did not succeed in
establishing continued government cooperation with the
socialists of the SPS, who chose to invest in the newly
elected president's nationalist party. Socialist leader
Ivica Dačić formed a new coalition between her party,
the SNS and a party alliance called the United Regions
of Serbia (URS).
The government put a fight against corruption at the
top of the agenda. At the same time, the government was
facing severe economic challenges, with an unemployment
rate approaching 28 percent.
Within the EU, the question marks were numerous
around Serbia's continued political path. President
Nikolić said in his victory speech that Serbia "will not
deviate from the European road". Addressing his
nationalist voters, he stressed at the same time that
the country would not "abandon" the Serbs in Kosovo.
Serbian nationalist and right-wing extremist groups
(such as Naši, "Our") took to the wings after the
nationalist regime came to power. They attacked people
and phenomena that they classified as "antisera" and
"traitor". Homosexuals were also subjected to violence
by nationalists and skins. In some newspaper articles,
there were nationalist noises and hopes that
uncomfortably recalled what it was like before the war
broke out in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
EU negotiations begin
Following negotiations under the EU mediation, in
April 2013, Serbia and Kosovo signed a framework
agreement on normalized relations (see Kosovo Calendar).
Serbia did not recognize Kosovo's independence, but the
agreement meant that both parties pledged not to block
each other's path to the EU. As a result, Serbia could
start official negotiations on EU membership in January
2014.
That same month, President Nikolić dissolved
Parliament and a new election was announced. The
difficult economic situation with growing budget
deficits, rising loans and high unemployment had made
the internal contradictions in the coalition government
clear. The initiative for the new election came from the
largest government party SNS and its party leader,
Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. It wanted a new
mandate from the Serbs so that the government could
speed up the reforms that the EU demanded.
In the elections, the SNS received almost half of all
votes, and more than half of the seats in Parliament.
Only three other parties passed the five-percent
blockade to Parliament, including the Socialist Party,
the only remaining coalition partner in the outgoing
government (see also Calendar). SNS leader Aleksandar
Vučić formed a new government in April. It included
representatives of the SPS and the Vojvodina Hungarian
Alliance, SVM. New Foreign Minister and First Deputy
Prime Minister became the SPS leader and former Head of
Government Ivica Dačić.
The new government had hardly taken office until
Serbia (together with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia)
suffered the worst floods in a century. Despite
international disaster assistance, these came to have
significant economic consequences for the country.
In 2015, large streams of refugees began to enter
Serbia from the south. The refugees came partly from the
war in Syria but also from countries such as Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Most people did not want to stay in
Serbia, but the wave of refugees nevertheless put a
great deal of pressure on Serbian society and also put
strain on relations with neighboring countries, when
they put an end to the refugees in different ways. When
the so-called Balkan route was closed in the spring of
2016, there were still several thousand refugees left in
Serbia (see also Population and languages).
|