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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 07/04
Montenegro's Socialist People's Party: A Loyal Opposition?
April 28, 2000
Abstract
The assertion of the primacy of Serbian rights over all other peoples by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has driven nearly every nationality of the former Yugoslavia toward the Republic's exits. Even Montenegro, once Serbia's closest political and military ally, has not been immune from the turmoil that Slobodan Milosevic has created and has opted to distance itself from Belgrade's controlling influence.
The resulting political tensions have reshaped Montenegro's political landscape. The Socialist People's Party (SNP), which enjoys the support of about one-third of the Montenegrin public, was formed as the result of a split within Montenegro's ruling party, the Party of Democratic Socialists (DPS). The SNP is a party increasingly on the defensive, caught between the initiatives of Montenegrin President Djukanovic to define pro -Western, democratising and reformist policies; and the intimidation tactics of federal President Milosevic who seeks to bring Montenegro to heel and thus salvage the Federation.
