Citizenship between the ‘image of the nation’ and ‘the image of politics’: the case of Montenegro

Abstract

In Montenegro, the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the legal successor to the Montenegrin branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, has uninterruptedly remained in power since the break-up of Yugoslavia. By looking at citizenship policies in Montenegro since the disintegration of Yugoslavia as an ‘image of the nation’ and an ‘image of politics’, this paper maintains that citizenship legislation has been one of the key mechanisms that has enabled the perpetuation of DPS rule. By embedding the ‘image of the nation’ in citizenship legislation, the ruling Montenegrin elite reinforced their political agenda. By entrenching the ‘image of politics’ in citizenship laws, they managed to produce conditions favouring their electoral victories, thus enabling the party’s institutional dominance.

Keywords:

• Montenegro
• citizenship
• DPS
• elections
• nation
• politics

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on my work within the CITSEE project at the University of Edinburgh, particular on my Working Paper ‘Transformations of Citizenship in Montenegro’ (3/2010). The funding of the European Commission is acknowledged with gratitude (ERC Grant no. 230239). I would like to thank Prof. Jo Shaw and Dr Igor Stiks for their useful comments and suggestions. The paper has been revised during my stay at the European University Institute as a Jean Monnet Fellow.

Notes

1. Not all of the ‘Montenegrins’ believed that ‘Montenegrin’ and ‘Serb’ were mutually exclusive. For more details on Montenegrin identity (see Morrison 2009).

2. According to the 2011 census (Monstat 2011), the ethnic composite in Montenegro is as follows: Montenegrins (45%), Serbs (28.7%), Bosniaks (8.6%), Albanians (4.9%), Muslims (3.3%), Croats (1%) and Roma (0.3%).

3. However, had they at any given moment unregistered their residence in Montenegro so as to regulate their citizenship of origin, they would not be covered by the scope of the amendment to the Citizenship Act.

4. In 2010, there were 24,019 persons registered as displaced persons and IDPs in Montenegro (UNHCR 2010). Although there are no exact numbers, the majority of them came from Kosovo, which is further corroborated by the fact that the above numbers include 10, 951IDP Roma (Informacija o preregistraciji 2009).

5. The latter implies an increase in the number of electors.

6. At the time of the pre-referendum debate, then President of Serbia – Vojislav Koštunica – requested that over 264,802 Montenegrins residing in Serbia receive voting rights in Montenegro. Because the voting population of Montenegro stood at 457,633 such a major addition of voters would have significantly affected the results of the plebiscite (voters from Serbia were likely to vote for the preservation of the common state).

7. In Montenegro, two terms are used to refer to the notion of the ‘citizen’: (1) general category of ‘citizen’ (građanin) and (2)the category of ‘citizen’ status (državljanin). Voting rights are granted only to the second category of ‘citizens’ (see: Džankić 2010a, 2012).

8. These influential individuals included Svetozar Marović (then Speaker of Parliament), Vukašin Maraš (then head of the secret service), Predrag Goranović (then Minister of Finance); Filip Vujanović (then Minister of Interior), etc. (Monitor 16 May 1997).