Montenegro

Type of Government

Montenegro is a republic with a parliamentary form of government. It has a unicameral parliament with eighty-one members; a prime minister and cabinet with executive authority; a largely ceremonial presidency; and an independent judiciary.

Background

Montenegro is one of the smallest countries in Europe, with a population of approximately 680,000 (about the same size as Memphis, Tennessee). The Montenegrin people are closely related to the Serbs, their neighbors to the northeast. Montenegrin territory became part of the first Serbian nation late in the twelfth century, when Stefan Nemanja (ruled 1167–1196), the founder of Serbia, conquered Montenegro and other surrounding lands and declared Serbia’ independence from the Byzantine Empire.

Montenegro emerged as an independent country in the second half of the fourteenth century, as the Serbian empire was crumbling in the face of the invading Ottoman Turks. The rugged mountains and dense forests of Montenegro made the area an ideal refuge for Serbs who were fleeing from the Turks, and a group of Serbian refugees set up their own small state there. Although Montenegro fought an almost continuous war with the Ottoman Turks, the Turks never succeeded in conquering Montenegro.

Montenegro remained an independent country until 1918, when it joined with Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Vojvodina, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to form the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The country changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

Montenegro was an integral part of Yugoslavia until the 1990s. Even when Yugoslavia began to collapse in the late 1980s, and when Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina each declared independence in 1991 and 1992, Montenegro remained loyal to Serbia and to what remained of Yugoslavia.

Montenegrins’ attachment to Serbia began to fade during the late 1990s. In 2002 Serbia and Montenegro signed a new agreement dissolving Yugoslavia and creating the Union of Serbia and Montenegro, a loose federation in which both countries had a great deal of independence. The Montenegrin government agreed to this new union reluctantly, and only on the condition that it could hold a referendum on complete independence in three years. This referendum was held on May 21, 2006, and in it just over 55 percent of Montenegrins voted to sever all remaining ties with Serbia and become an independent state.

Government Structure

Montenegro is a parliamentary republic with a unicameral parliament containing eighty-one seats. Representatives are elected to parliament for four-year terms based on a party list proportional representation system. In this type of election voters endorse a list of candidates prepared by a political party or coalition, rather than individual candidates. Seats in the parliament are divided among the parties and coalitions based on the number of votes received by each list. All of Montenegro is considered to be a single election district, so every voter in the country chooses from the same lists of candidates. Seventy-six of the eighty-one seats in the parliament are allocated based on the results of this nationwide voting. The remaining five representatives are elected under a different set of rules by voters in parts of Montenegro where the population is primarily Albanian.

Once the parliament has been elected its membership selects a prime minister and cabinet. Together the prime minister and cabinet hold executive power, including the authority to conduct the country’s foreign policy. The president, who is elected by the people to a five-year term, has little practical power; his position as head of state is largely ceremonial.

The Montenegrin court system is separate from the political process. There are two top-level courts in the country: the Constitutional Court, which determines whether the laws and other actions of the government are constitutional; and the Supreme Court, which is the highest appeals court in the country. Judges on the Constitutional Court have nine-year terms, while the judges of the Supreme Court are appointed for life.

Political Parties and Factions

A number of political parties are represented in the Montenegrin parliament. As of the 2006 elections the largest group in parliament was the Coalition for a European Montenegro, which includes the Democratic Party of Socialists and the left-wing Social Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of Socialists is directly descended from the League of Communists of Montenegro, which ruled the country from 1945 until 1991. The leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, Milo Djukanovic (1962–), ruled Montenegro for fifteen years, first as its prime minister (a position that he assumed on his twenty-ninth birthday), then as its president from 1998 to 2002, and then as prime minister again from 2002 to 2006. Although the membership of the Democratic Party of Socialists is largely made up of former communists, it is now a relatively liberal, center-left party that favored independence from Serbia and that favors closer integration with the European Union.

The major opposition to the Democratic Party of Socialists has come from parties dominated by ethnic Serbians, including the Socialist Peoples Party, the Peoples Party, the Democratic Serbian Party, and the Serbian List coalition, which includes the Serbian Peoples Party and some other, smaller parties. Prior to the 2006 referendum on Montenegrin independence these parties campaigned primarily on their desire to maintain Montenegro’s union with Serbia; it is unclear as yet whether the parties will disband or transform now that the issue of Montenegrin independence is settled.

The other major opposition party in Montenegro is the Movement for Change. This group was founded in 2002 by several economists and university professors as a nonpartisan civic organization. The Group for Change, as it was then called, was designed to encourage economic and political reform. In 2006 the organization transformed itself into a full-fledged political party. Competing in its first parliamentary elections, it won eleven seats that year.

Major Events

Djukanovic surprised many Montenegrins when he announced that he was stepping down as prime minister and retiring from politics in October 2006. However, as of 2007 he continued to head the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists and maintained a great deal of influence with high-level politicians from that party.

Twenty-First Century

Political and judicial corruption have continued to plague Montenegro, but the country is well on its way to becoming a full member of the European community. Montenegro joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations in June 2006, and entered negotiations with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization about joining those bodies.

BBC News. “Q & A: Montenegro Votes.” (accessed September 12, 2007).

Benson, Leslie. Yugoslavia: A Concise History. New York: Palgrave, 2001.

Country Updates: Montenegro. Amsterdam, Netherlands: European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity, 2006.