Europe

Serbia
Last Reviewed: 11 December 2008

Country information

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HISTORY

Longer Historical Perspective

The five independent countries that emerged from former Yugoslavia in 1991-92 had spent centuries, from the late Middle Ages, under either Austrian Habsburg or Ottoman Turkish rule. Most of present-day Serbia fell under Ottoman control.

Two Serbian uprisings beginning in 1804 and 1814 resulted in a Serbian state gaining first semi-autonomous status within the Ottoman Empire and eventually, in 1830, full autonomy. The Ottoman Empire was forced out of the region during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) when Serbia also regained control of Kosovo, which it had lost to the Ottomans in 1389.

In the First World War, the joint forces of Austria-Hungary, Germany and Bulgaria defeated Serbia. The Serbian army regrouped and went to fight alongside the forces of the Entente on the Salonica front. In 1918, under the Serb Karadjordjevic dynasty, the ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ came into existence. The new state was renamed the ‘Kingdom of Yugoslavia’ in 1929.

The Second World War saw Yugoslavia invaded in April 1941 and partitioned by the Axis powers. When Yugoslavia emerged in 1945 as a socialist federation under the communist partisan leader Josip Broz (Tito), the state was structured as a federation of six republics: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Kosovo and Vojvodina gained increasing autonomy within Serbia. Tito ruled the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) for 35 years, sharing power amongst Yugoslavia’s constituent nations.

Recent History

Tito’s death in 1980 signalled the beginning of the end of the SFRY. The state’s economic decline continued and, increasingly, the power sharing issue rose up the agenda. In 1989 Slobodan Milosevic, riding a wave of nationalist sentiment, came to power in Serbia, and quickly installed his supporters in positions of power and severely restricted the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. In January 1990, the Yugoslav League of Communists failed to reach agreement on urgent questions of reform and the Slovenian delegation walked out.

The next eighteen months witnessed a round of largely insincere negotiations over how to resolve Yugoslavia’s collective problems. In June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence. Macedonia withdrew from Yugoslavia after its independence referendum in September 1991, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, after its independence referendum. Serbia, under Milosevic, opposed the independence moves and actively participated in wars and armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95) under the pretext of ‘protecting’ Croatian and Bosnian Serbs.

Following the secession of the other Yugoslav republics, Serbia and Montenegro adopted the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) on 27 April 1992, and declared themselves a new state.

When Kosovo and Vojvodina were stripped of their previous degree of autonomy, Kosovo Albanians began boycotting the Serbian institutions and elections. However, after several years of passive resistance, violent opposition to Serbian hegemony grew in Kosovo. Milosevic turned to the policy of ethnic cleansing, this time against the Kosovo Albanian population. NATO intervened between March and June 1999 with a 78-day bombing campaign across Serbia and Montenegro to push repressive Serb troops out of Kosovo and force Milosevic to relinquish control of the province.

Since June 1999, UNMIK has exercised administrative control of Kosovo, whilst the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) has maintained security within the province.

Milosevic’s regime came to an end on 24 September 2000, following FRY presidential elections. He refused to accept the first round victory of Vojislav Kostunica, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia Coalition (DOS) candidate. However, Milosevic had underestimated popular support for the opposition and overestimated the loyalty of the army and security services. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, storming government buildings on 5 October 2000 ending Milosevic's 1-year regime. The uprising of 5 October 2000 was consolidated in December 2000, when DOS swept to power in Serbia, following the Assembly elections.

5 October 2000, people of Yugoslavia storm government buildings and end Milosevic's 10 year regime

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro

On 14 March 2002, following months of negotiations between the two republics and mediation by EU High Representative Javier Solana, the federal and republican level governments signed the ‘Belgrade Agreement’, forming a new, looser union between Serbia and Montenegro. With the formal adoption of a new Constitutional Charter on 4 February 2003, the FRY became the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (SaM). Foreign policy, defence policy, foreign and domestic economic relations and human/minority rights were dealt with at state union level. Svetozar Marovic, a Montenegrin, was appointed President of SaM. There was also a single-chamber Parliament made up of 126 members (91 Serbian, 35 Montenegrin).

The State Union was intended to promote stability within the region and help both republics make further progress towards European integration, but opinion in Montenegro was divided and the union did not function effectively. Under the terms of the Constitutional Charter either republic could hold a referendum on independence after three years. Montenegro chose to exercise this right and, with the EU acting as facilitator, held a successful referendum on 21 May 2006: 55.5% of those who voted did so in favour of independence. The Montenegrin Assembly made a formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006, thus bringing the union between Serbia and Montenegro to an end.

On 5 June 2006 the Serbian National Assembly decreed Serbia to be the continuing international personality of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and fully succeeded its legal status as initially envisaged by the SaM Constitutional Charter Serbia therefore inherited membership of international organisations of which Serbia and Montenegro was a member. The Republic of Serbia remains party to all international agreements, treaties and conventions to which Serbia and Montenegro was a party.

For more information please see the following link:

Montenegro Country Profile

For more information:

BBC timeline: Serbia and Montenegro after Milosevic

On 17 February 2008, Kosovo declared itself independent. The declaration committed Kosovo to implement fully UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari’s Comprehensive Proposal, which includes extensive minority safeguards and international supervision. On 18 February, EU Foreign Ministers agreed conclusions drawing together the EU’s reaction. The EU has agreed a range of political and practical assistance to Kosovo (deploying a police and rule of law mission and Special Representative; assisting with economic and political development). The conclusions noted that member states could decide on their relations with Kosovo in line with national practice.

On 18 February, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK would recognise Kosovo as a sovereign, independent state. Over fifty coutries including the US, a majority of EU states and Serbia’s neighbours have now recognised Kosovo’s independence.

For more information please see the Kosovo Country Profile