Abstract

This case study is dedicated to Serbia, one of the countries born from the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic (SFR) of Yugoslavia, that over the last 20 years has changed its statehood five times. From being one of the six republics of SFR Yugoslavia, after its break-up in 1991 Serbia with Montenegro created the Federal Republic (FR) of Yugoslavia in April 1992, which became the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. After the referendum in Montenegro in May 2006 when its citizens voted in favour of independence, in June Serbia and Montenegro became two independent states. Finally, Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in February 2008, though by June 2011 Kosovo had not been recognized by 60 per cent of UN members. The focus of the chapter is primarily on Serbia, the preponderant part of the country in terms of territory, population and economic weight, though occasionally we will also need to refer to the country as defined at the time.