In 2003, the remaining Yugoslav republics agreed to a more decentralized arrangement, changing the state's name to Serbia and Montenegro. Essentially, the federal government, based in Belgrade, will now handle only defense and foreign affairs, with other powers reverting to the republics' governments, seated at Belgrade for Serbia and Podgorica for Montenegro. The three flags above reflect those of the two republics, as well as the former flag of Yugoslavia. Most observers feel that in 2006, Serbia and Montenegro will complete their separation, thus bringing to a final close one of the most interesting experiments in statecraft of the 20th Century.
The various Slavic inhabitants of Yugoslavia's lands had resisted but ultimately failed at preventing being overrun by Istanbul and Vienna, with the notable exception of tiny Montenegro. But following the First World War, the Entente Powers agreed at Versailles to create a new state that would encompass most of the western Balkans. In so doing, Britain, France, the United States, and the other victors hoped to limit the capacity of Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany, and Hungary (the losers) to reacquire their influence in the Balkans. The solution was the first incarnation of Yugoslavia. Organized around a Serbian king, this Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was a multi-national state incorporating disparate groups, some of whom had remained autonomous from imperialist conquest, others who had lived under the Austrian or Ottoman yoke, and still others who saw in Albania their perceived homeland. Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Slovenes, and Muslim Bosniaks and ethnic-Albanians now shared one state. Tensions arose early as the Serbs initially favored a strong, centralist monarchy (after all, the royal bloodline was Serbian), and most Slovenes and Croats favored either a federalist system or re-alignment with Austria. From the start, it was an ambitious country, and, perhaps, an impossible country.
Under its second king, Aleksander I, the Kingdom's politics became very polarized as Croat and Slovene nationalists pushed for concessions the Serb king was unwilling to grant. Aleksander eventually declared a royal dictatorship and renamed the state Yugoslavia (the land of southern Slavs) in 1929. At the same time, a Croat fascist group with nationalist leanings, the Ustashe, began plotting to assassinate Aleksander. In 1934, they succeeded. A regency ensued, and moderates on all sides worked toward reconciliation. Then World War II broke out, and in 1941 the Nazi armies occupied Yugoslavia and found in the Croat Ustashe, who declared an Independent State of Croatia, willing accomplices for their aims.
The Nazi occupation unleashed three major forces in Yugoslavia: the fascist, anti-Yugoslav Ustashe; the pro-monarchy, anti-Nazi-occupation Chetniks; and the Communist, anti-fascist Partisans. It was the latter group, led by the Croat-fathered, Slovene-mothered Josip Broz Tito, that won out in the dogged fighting of World War II, eventually garnering control of Yugoslavia and establishing a socialist, federal Yugoslavia with six republics (Bosnia i Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) and two autonomous zones within Serbia (Kosovo with its majority ethnic-Albanian population and Vojvodina with its large Hungarian population). Under the inspired leadership of Tito, this second incarnation of Yugoslavia ran a mixed system of state-directed industrialization with a worker-managed bent, liberal social policy, small-scale entrepreneurship, and an independent foreign policy. Tito broke with Stalin in 1948 and Yugoslavia became a principal founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. As the Cold War dragged on, innovative Yugoslavia established links with the West and was the envy of many of the peoples of the East, while being beholden to neither.
But much of Yugoslavia's system was wrapped up in the leadership of Tito, and when growth rates stagnated he began borrowing from Western banks. When hyperinflation ensued and Tito was no longer in charge (he died in 1980), the system began to sputter. The post-Tito rotating presidency tried to maintain the multi-national spirit of the second Yugoslavia, but regional resentment burgeoned as Belgrade tried to grapple with its increasing debts. As expatriate nationalist communities in the West and Washington began funneling funds to the anti-Yugoslav opposition movements within Yugoslavia at the same time that the fiery Slobodan Milosevic became president of Serbia, the stage was set for the secessionist struggles of the 1990s. When Slovenia and Croatia asserted their independence, the Yugoslav federal authorities attempted to maintain the union, but to no avail as civil war erupted. The most heterogenously populated of all the Yugoslav republics, Bosnia i Hercegovina, was particularly ravaged by the warfare, as its ethnic-Croat, ethnic-Serb, and Muslim-Bosniak populations all sought control of the territory. Macedonia broke off with little attention from Belgrade.
By 1995, Yugoslavia had entered its third phase, that of the rump federation of Serbia and Montenegro. Having witnessed the successful carving out of other nation-based states, the Kosovar Albanians led by the insurgent Kosovo Liberation Army began agitating in the mid 1990s for greater autonomy or independence for Kosovo. This led to more war in Yugoslavia, with NATO opting for the first time to intervene in a sovereign state's affairs by attacking Yugoslavia in the name of shielding Yugoslavia's ethnic-Albanian population from Yugoslav forces. (See Page 4 for more on the NATO attack on Yugoslavia).
Today, Yugoslavia no longer exists. Its various republics are independent or on the way there. What they have gained in the way of managing their own affairs, they have lost in global influence. Together, Yugoslavia was a respected global force; separate, the old federal republics are minnows. This was a path that certain elements pushed for, but amongst the former Yugoslav peoples there are still many who recall the greater aspirations of Yugoslavia, especially during its heyday in the Cold War era. For their sake, the Monkey hopes there can be some reconciliation and renewed cooperation in the former Yugoslavia sooner rather than later.
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
(formally Yugoslavia)
Population: 10,655,774 (total; approx. split: Serbia: 9,947,774; Montenegro: 708,000)
Area: 102,350 sq. km. (total; approx. split: Serbia: 88,540; Montenegro: 13,810)
Economy: In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro ranked 93rd in total GDP, with a per capita GDP of $2,374. In 2001, 30% of its population lived in poverty. UN Human Development Index rank and debt service statistics unavailable.
Main Language: Serbo-Croat
Monkey's Name: Majmun (my-moon)
Fun Fact: One of Serbia and Montenegro's most macabre structures is the Cele Kula, or Skull Tower, located in Nis, Serbia. It dates from a time when Ottoman soldiers were growing increasingly tired of Serb rebellions against their rule. After quelling one such uprising in 1809, Ottoman troops decapitated 952 fallen Serbs and built the short, square tower out of the Serbs' heads. While the Ottomans intended it to serve as a warning to the local population, within a few years the Serbs had managed to rid their lands of the Ottoman occupiers, and they preserved the Skull Tower as a memorial to the sacrifice of the early Serb nationalists.
Montenegro_7__8
Belgrade, Serbia
Novi Pazar, Serbia
Bay of Kotor, Montenegro
The Monkey faces a tough choice while driving through Serbia and Montenegro. The decision's difficulty is compounded by the fact that Titograd no longer exists—it's now Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital. Titograd, named to honor Yugoslav leader Tito, existed from 1945-1992.
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