Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)
| Republic of Serbia Република Србија Republika Srbija | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1990-1992) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992-2003) Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006) | |||||||||||
| 1990–2006 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Belgrade | ||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||
| • Type | Republic | ||||||||||
| President | |||||||||||
• 1991 – 1997 | Slobodan Milošević | ||||||||||
• 1997 – 2002 | Milan Milutinović | ||||||||||
• 2004 – 2006 | Boris Tadić | ||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1991 | Dragutin Zelenović | ||||||||||
• 2004-2006 | Vojislav Koštunica | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 28 April 1990 | |||||||||||
• UNSCR 1244 regarding Kosovo | 1999 | ||||||||||
| February 4, 2003 | |||||||||||
• Dissolution of union | 5 June 2006 | ||||||||||
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The Republic of Serbia was a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro between 1992 and 2006. With Montenegro's secession from the union with Serbia in 2006, both respective states became sovereign in their own right.
The Socialist Republic of Serbia was dissolved in 1990 after the League of Communists of Yugoslavia collapsed. A new constitution was created, in which Serbia which would be a constituent republic with democratic institutions within Yugoslavia.
With the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in 1992, the two remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro agreed to form a new Yugoslav state which officially abandoned communism in favour of forming a new Yugoslavia based upon democratic institutions (although the republic retained its communist coat of arms). This new rump Yugoslavia was known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The Socialist Republic of Serbia became known as the Republic of Serbia in 1990 after the Communist Party of Yugoslavia collapsed, though the republic was still run by former Communist party leadership through the Socialist Party of Serbia upon its inception. Serbia was the dominant republic in the FRY and had enormous influence in the Federal Republic's internal and foreign affairs.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The politics of Serbia in the FRY continued the nationalist tendencies as in other neighbouring former SFRY republics as Yugoslavia collapsed on ethnic lines. Since 1989 Serbia had been led by Slobodan Milošević, a former Communist politician who promised to defend Serbs from oppression in neighbouring republics, especially Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, he and Montenegrin President Momir Bulatović agreed to the formation of the FRY. However many critics on the international stage saw Serbia as the dominant internal unit of the FRY, in which Serbian President Milošević seemed to have far more influence on federal politics than the Yugoslav President (the first federal president, Dobrica Ćosić was forced to resign for opposing Milošević) leaving them to conclude that the FRY was a de facto Greater Serbia run by its strongman Milošević. During the Yugoslav Wars in Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, Milošević supported Serb separatists who wanted to join the FRY, this support extended to controversial figures such as Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, and accusations by the international community claimed that Milošević was in charge of the Serb factions during the war and had authorized war atrocities to occur. In 1995, Milošević represented the Bosnian Serbs during the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Milošević continued to be President of Serbia until 1997,when he retired as Serbian President in 1997 and became Yugoslav President. Milan Milutinović took over as Serbian President from Milošević that year.
From 1996 to 1999, severe political instability erupted in the Albanian-populated province of Kosovo in Serbia. This caused the Kosovo War and in 1999, Serbia was bombed by NATO aircraft which included the Serbian and federal capital of Belgrade. Afterwards, Serbia was forced to relinquish control of the province of Kosovo to a United Nations autonomous mandate.
The aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars resulted in a failing economy in Serbia and anger at the federal presidency of Milošević. During the wars and their aftermath, saw the rise of Serbian ultranationalist parties, such as the Serbian Radical Party led by Vojislav Šešelj, who directly promoted the creation of a Greater Serbia and as a paramilitary aided in genocides against Croats and Bosniaks during the Yugoslav Wars. Šešelj was twice arrested in 1994 and 1995 by the Serbian government, but eventually became Vice-President of Serbia from 1998 to 2000. In 2000, Serbian citizens protested against elections when Milošević was re-elected Yugoslav President as allegations of voter fraud existed. Milošević was forced to resign and was later arrested in 2001 and brought to The Hague to face war crimes charges.
After the overthrow of Milošević, Serbian politician Vojislav Koštunica became the federal president. In 2002, Milošević's ally, Serbian President Milutinović resigned, thus ending the twelve year reign of the Socialist Party of Serbia over the Serbian presidency. Boris Tadić of the Democratic Party of Serbia replaced Milutinović.
Serbia and Montenegro
In 2003, following the reconstitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia became one of the constituent states within it along with Montenegro. The state union arose as Montenegrin nationalism was growing, Serbia would have its own currency, the Serbian dinar, while Montenegro used the Euro. Serbia's attachment to the state union would be its final subordination until its independence was declared in 2006 following Montenegro's declaration of independence from the union following a referendum on independence shortly prior.
Between 2003 and 2006, Serbia was faced with internal political strife over the direction of the republic, Serbian politicians were divided over the decision to create the loose state union in the first place. Zoran Đinđić who was seen as a major proponent of the state union was criticized by the former Yugoslav President Kostunica. The anger of nationalists over Đinđić's positions resulted in sudden assasination in March 2003 which caused a state of emergency to be declared. In 2004, pro-European Union political forces united against nationalist forces who opposed Serbia's entry into the EU until the EU recognized Serbia's sovereignty in Kosovo.
In 2006, Serbia faced the implications of a referendum on independence from the state union by Montenegro. Most Serbians wished to keep Montenegro in a state union due to the previous close ties which the two nations had and that Montenegrins were considered in Serbia to be the same as Serbs culturally and ethnically. Despite a hard fought campaign by pro-unionists, pro-independence forces narrowly won the referendum with just over the 55 per cent threshold demanded by the European Union. With Montenegro's independence granted, Serbia declared itself to become an independent state, the first time it had been so since 1918.