Serbia Unitary state
| SERBIA | / HISTORY |
History and trends
Serbia is a semi-presidential Republic. Its Constitution was adopted on 8 November 2006.
Serbia shares borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo (which it does not recognise) and Montenegro. Its capital is Belgrade.
Orthodox Serbs make up the vast majority of its population, although there is a large Hungarian minority in Vojvodina in the North of the country.
Kosovo’s de facto independence in early 2008 – recognised by many countries but not by Serbia – resulted in Serbia losing part of its territory. It normalised relations with Kosovo in 2013.
Serbia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in 2008, laying the groundwork for future accession. In 2014, Serbia started EU membership talks. Serbia is militarily neutral.
The Serbs arrived in the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries, along with the region’s other Slavic peoples. As elsewhere in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire first gained strongholds in cities – the centres of trade and seats of government. As a result, the cities were subject to extensive Islamisation, while rural areas tended to retain their links to traditional orthodoxy.
The sultan granted the Principality of Serbia independence in 1830. Blighted by successive political crises, the first Serbian state adopted a constitution in 1838, while the prince was forced to share power with a council of elders. Serbia continued the dual process of modern state-building and territorial expansion. Focusing its efforts to the south, Serbia gradually “liberated” Ottoman territories, as it was unable to target the Habsburg-controlled territories of Srem and Banat, despite their sizeable Serb population. It is important to place the Serb uprising in its European context, marked by the growth of populism and nations.
The Great Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 enabled the Kingdom of Serbia to continue its expansion. In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin recognised Serbia and Montenegro as fully independent states with no ties to the Ottoman Empire.
In 1913, Serbia recaptured Kosovo and shared Macedonia with Greece and Bulgaria.
Serbia’s decision to align with the Allies in World War I was the logical consequence of these political choices. Following the end of the war, the Slavic peoples in Southern Europe gradually coalesced around the Serbian monarchy. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed in 1918, changing its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.
After World War II, Serbia became a federal entity of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2006, Serbia became fully independent when Montenegro withdrew from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
On 17 February 2008, Kosovo – until that point an autonomous province of the Republic of Serbia under UN Resolution 1244 – unilaterally declared independence. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, and the international community is divided on this issue.
Local level:
The municipality is the basic unit of local self-government. Serbia is divided into 174 municipalities (2016), excluding Kosovo, which split from the country and declared independence in 2008. Of these municipalities, 120 are located in Central Serbia to the south, and 54 in Vojvodina to the north.
Most municipalities are named after the biggest town, city or settlement in the area. However, some big cities like Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Niš are themselves subdivided into several municipalities.
Serbia’s municipalities are analogous with France’s departments, except in big cities, where they are more akin to the districts of large French cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille.
Serbia’s municipalities are grouped together into 29 districts – 17 in Central Serbia, 7 in Vojvodina and 5 in Kosovo. The City of Belgrade is a separate district in its own right. The districts are regional centres where the central government exercises its power. They are administrative divisions without an assembly, but they house various state institutions.
The “local community” is the smallest unit of local government in Serbia. In most cases, local communities share the same boundaries and name as the corresponding settlement. In rural areas, some sparsely populated villages are grouped together under the same local community. In these cases, the local community bears some similarities to a canton in France. It bears the name of the largest settlement within its boundaries.
In more densely populated areas, however, a single settlement may be divided into more than one local community. This is particularly true of cities. These communities are governed by “councils”, whose members are elected at local elections.
In January 2007, the official figures showed that there were 6,168 “settlements” across Serbia – 4,252 in Central Serbia, 467 in Vojvodina, and 1,449 in Kosovo and Metohjia. In most cases, these settlements are grouped together within a larger municipality. Most of them are rural settlements, commonly known as “villages”.
A smaller number are officially defined as “urban settlements”, more commonly known as “cities”. In 2007, there were 207 urban settlements across Serbia – 129 in Central Serbia, 52 in Vojvodina, and 26 in Kosovo.
Urban settlement status is not conferred on the basis of population. Instead, it is a historical status stemming from the country’s past or, more recently, by administrative decision. In addition, the Law on Local Governments, adopted on 28 December 2007, defines 24 “cities”, each of which has its own assembly and budget.
Regional level:
The country is divided into two provinces. To the north is the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina), covering 21,506 km². The province has its own assembly and government. The most recent provincial elections were held on 11 May 2008.
According to Serbian state policy and the constitution, there is a second autonomous province in the south of the country – the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija, covering 10,887 km². However, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, following the civil war of 1999. Belgrade does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, and the international community is divided on this issue.
Central Serbia, which covers 55,968 km², does not have an official status. The name commonly refers to the part of the Republic of Serbia that lies outside Vojvodina and Kosovo.
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Key reforms: Completed reforms:
Reforms in the pipeline:
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