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427 Montenegro: A Polity in Flux, 1989–2000 ◆ Kenneth Morrison ◆ Montenegro’s role in the disintegration of Yugoslavia and events within the republic during the critical years under consideration are often overlooked (or treated only superficially) in the plethora of literature focusing on the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Socialistička federativna republika Jugoslavija [SFRY]) and its subsequent wars of disintegration. Montenegro largely avoided war in the 1990s, but as Yugoslavia’s smallest republic it faced numerous challenges as the SFRY dissolved; it was by no means immune from the problems facing neighboring republics. The main focus of this chapter is, therefore, the impact of wider Yugoslav events on Montenegro’s internal politics, the relationship between ruling elites in Serbia and Montenegro, and the intraparty dynamics within Montenegro’s ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (Demokratska partija socijalista [DPS]). So while war was avoided in Montenegro, the collapse of the SFRY had a significant impact upon the republic, resurrecting old divisions that pushed the republic to the brink of civil war in 1999. Subject to war and occupation twice in the first half of the twentieth century, Montenegro’s status as a republic within the SFRY had eased tensions between those who defined themselves as Serbs and were inclined toward close union with Serbia, and those Montenegrins who argued that they were a distinct nation and were inclined toward independence.1 But this preexisting division, one which had become manifest in the latter years of the reign of King Nicholas (Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš), was not the only fault line. The Greens (Zelenaši) and Whites (Bjelaši) division had also been compounded by the Partisan-Chetnik dynamic and, to a lesser extent, by the legacy of the 1948 Tito-Stalin split.2 Broadly speaking , however, the SFRY provided stability in Montenegro, and these divisions were concealed, if not forgotten. Montenegro, a tiny republic of 625,000 inhabitants , benefited economically and politically from the Yugoslav system. In part because of the large number of Partisan “national heroes” among their ranks, Montenegrins were disproportionately represented in the Yugoslav bureaucracy, 428 ◆ Kenneth Morrison police, and army. Ethnic relations were relatively stable and Montenegrins came to represent something of an ideal Yugoslav surrogate in their equidistance between Montenegrin and Serb nationalities.3 The postwar Montenegrin communist leadership was Yugoslav oriented, and Montenegro lagged behind others in the establishment of national institutions. Nationalism was, on the whole, contained. But as the SFRY began its painful demise in the late 1980s, Montenegro was thrust into a decade-long crisis, one that did not end until the fall of the regime of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000. During the period between 1989 and 2000, Montenegro passed through numerous internal political crises, from the so-called antibureaucratic revolution to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Bitter political struggles rekindled preexisting, if concealed, divisions as the trajectory of politics in the republic was determined. Indeed, the tumultuous events of the 1990s, discussed here, would establish the foundations for the republic’s independence in 2006. Economic Crisis and the “Antibureaucratic Revolution” By 1988, both Montenegro and the whole of the SFRY were in the grip of economic crisis. As the communist leadership failed to deal with the crisis, nationalists sought to capitalize on the resulting social and political instability. The resurgence of the Serbian Question in the mid-1980s dictated that Montenegrins would again be forced to engage the question of their national identity. The argument that Montenegrins were part of the Serbian national corpus once again became de rigueur among intellectual and nationalist groups in Serbia, who maintained that Montenegrins were a branch of the wider Serbian nation, and that the Montenegrin nation had been a creation of the Yugoslav communists, who wished to tear Montenegro from its Serbian roots.4 Many Montenegrins responded warmly to these overtures.5 Even in the mid-1980s, the Montenegrin leadership recognized the dangers of increasing nationalism within the SFRY. Vidoje Žarković, the president of the Montenegrin League of Communists (Savez komunista Crne Gore [SKCG]), cautioned that brotherhood and unity (bratstvo i jedinstvo) in Montenegro, and throughout the SFRY, must be vigorously defended against what he described as “retrograde nationalist forces.”6 Nationalism would play a key role in Montenegrin politics over the following decade, but it was not the main driver behind the discontent that became so acute in the late 1980s. It was, rather, the economy that presented the greatest challenge to Montenegro’s (and to Yugoslavia’s...

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