The Serbian Socialist Republic was the most important entity of the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia (RSFI, 1943-1992), led by President Josip Broz ‘Tito’ for most of its history (1953-1980). The political configuration of the country after World War II largely depended on the decisions of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Kpj) and its relevance has been changing according to the historical and political vicissitudes of Yugoslavia. On the basis of the new federalist constitution of 1974, Serbia was the only one of the six former federated republics to have two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which were guaranteed substantial autonomy such that any modification of their status it could not be done without the approval of the two provincial assemblies. In both cases, the intent was twofold: to guarantee recognition to national minorities (the Albanians in Kosovo and the Hungarians in Vojvodina) and to make Serbia institutionally weak to prevent the recurrence of the internal conflicts that occurred during the Second World War. With the death of Tito in 1980, given the inability of the mechanism of the annual rotation of the office of president of the RSFIto ensure a balance within a multi-national state, the Serbian community began to promote a ‘process of serbization’ of the federation’s nerve structures, favoring a greater centralization of power in the hands of the community itself. This process reached its peak between 1987 and 1989 when Slobodan Milošević – first at the helm of the K pjand subsequently of the republic, whose Constitution he unilaterally modified -, he suddenly guided the country from a socialist model and on average attentive to a certain balance between the ethnic groups of the federation, to an authoritarian, centralist system strongly marked by Serbian nationalism. These policies, together with the re-emergence of nationalist sentiments and separatist instances in the individual federated republics, were in part a disruptive factor that gave rise in 1991 to a process of fragmentation of the federation. lasted over a decade. The cascade process of the declarations of independence of the former socialist republics generated, among others, two long and bloody conflicts that involved Serbia: that with Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) and that with the breakaway region of Kosovo (1998- 1999).
The level of violence touched by the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the proximity to Western Europe prompted the intervention of the United Nations and a coalition of Western countries led by N ato, following the partial failure of peacekeeping operations. After the signing of the Dayton Agreements (1995) between Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, it was NATO that was the guarantor of Bosnian independence and from 1999 to occupy the region with an Albanian majority of Kosovo, which had endowed itself with a government of independent from Belgrade. After the war and the establishment of a troubled state building process, in 2008 the parliament of Priština declared its formal independence from Serbia, which did not recognize the act, contrary to many important players in the international community (including France, Germany, the United States and Italy).
Although the Kosovar question cannot be called completely closed, a turning point in the stabilization and normalization process of relations between Serbia and Kosovo came in April 2013, with the signing in Brussels of a 15-point agreement that addressed some of the issues that they blocked negotiations for a long time: status and the political, cultural and judicial autonomy of northern Kosovo, 94% inhabited by Serbian-Kosovar citizens who do not recognize the ethnic Albanian government and the conditions of Priština’s accession to international organizations. On this issue, the agreement guaranteed ample autonomy to the association of Kosovo Serbian municipalities, which would thus have their own police apparatus, which would in any case have to act within the legal institutional framework of Kosovo, thus respecting the sovereignty of the latter. As a guarantee of this delicate process, Serbia and Kosovo, in the persons of Premier Aleksandar Vučić and Isa Mustafa, signed an agreement in Brussels in August 2015 that recognizes the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities of Northern Kosovo. In addition to providing for an agreement in the energy sectors,
With the independence of Kosovo and even before that of Montenegro (2006), Serbia therefore concluded its troubled path of political fragmentation until it reached its current state physiognomy. The new 2006 Constitution defined Serbia as a parliamentary republic, with a head of state elected by direct popular suffrage. Until 2012 the office was held by Boris Tadić, exponent of the pro-European Democratic Party (D s) and former president of Serbia and Montenegro between 2004 and 2006. Since the presidential elections of 2012, the highest office of the state has been held instead by Tomislav Nikolić, leader of the Progressive Party (SNS). Born as a nationalist-inspired formation, Snsit moved to increasingly conservative-moderate positions, allying itself with Ivica Dačić’s Socialist Party (SPS). With the legislative elections of 16 March 2014, the S ns, with the coalition of parties that supported it, obtained an absolute majority, with 158 seats and Aleksandar Vučić, former vice premier with Dačić, was appointed new prime minister. The action of the Vučić executive is based on three main lines: strengthening of an internal reform process, normalization of relations with Kosovo and continuation of accession negotiations with the European Union.
On the side of international relations, during the Cold War Yugoslavia adopted a political-economic model of a socialist mold, but quickly distanced itself from the Soviet Union, placing itself at the head of the ‘Movement of non-aligned countries’ and inaugurating a period of mitigated isolation. international. Throughout the 1990s, the Federation found itself at war and diplomatically isolated, finding a solid ally especially in post-Soviet Russia. A special relationship that has survived the years and is also sealed by the signature in 2013 of the Declaration of partnership strategic. Parallel to the special relationship with Moscow, Belgrade has pursued a path of rapprochement with Brussels, which has been strengthened especially since the end of the Milošević presidency in 2000. By virtue of this, Belgrade has taken increasingly favorable positions to join the EU and has chosen to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The arrests in 2011 of former colonel Serb Ratko Mladic and former President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina Goran Hadžić have strengthened cooperation between Serbia and international justice and represented another step forward in the accession process to ‘ Eu. Indeed, in March 2012 Serbia obtained the status of candidate country and on 21 January 2014, also due to the progress made on the Kosovar question, the first intergovernmental conference was held to start negotiations for entry into the community area, which should take place no earlier than 2020.
