- Montenegro has progressed moderately in freedom indicators since the Yugoslav split. While Milo Dukanovic’s political party DPS has been in power since 1991, freedoms of speech and assembly are rated favorably by third party observers. According to the Freedom House, freedom of expression and speech is rated as a two out of four. Media coverage is described as “combative” and “partisan” while publicly owned outlets dominate coverage. Opposition media is denied access and often banned entirely in some cases. Additionally, journalists often self censor themselves in order to avoid job loss, political pressures, and even death threats. For example, investigative journalist Jovo Martinović was falsely imprisoned for allegations that he was involved in a criminal gang that he was investigating, yet later released. Additionally, while freedom of speech is generally supported in a public setting, there are fears that speaking against the current government would hurt employment opportunities not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector where politicians have their influence on businesses. This partial speech freedom would not be supported by Bleich’s core message yet the censorship surrounds political opposition and not a divide amongst racial or ethnic groups. Freedom of assembly is rated as a three out of four on freedom house as protests have been known to take place. According to Freedom House, one example occured in 2015 as, “anti government demonstrators in Podgorica clashed with police who tried to disperse them, with police on one occasion firing tear gas and stun grenades at protesters” As a result, “the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit was implicated in misbehavior, and a suit was lodged against its commander in 2016 for failing to punish his offers for the improper use of force. He was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment in January 2017.” While there is a history of anti-semitism and holocaust denial in Serbia, Montenegro has no such public manifestations. Montenegro has one of the smallest and newest jewish populations in Europe and main religious clashes center around the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is not recognized by other Eastern Orthodox Churches. While Bleich argues that limiting free speech in the forum of controversy limits democracy, there seems to be little relation between hate speech and censorship in Montenegro. Censorship seems to stem from political opposition and efforts from Russia to prevent westernization.
- Russia’s involvement in Montenegrin politics stems from historical connections between Yugoslavia and the USSR and present day connections between Serbia and Russia. Serbia and Montenegro finally split in 2006, ending the final union of Yugoslav countries. Yet, despite the split, Serbia’s influence over Montenegro is rooted in the presence of ethnic Serbs and traditionalists that still remain in the country. Progressive Montenegrins desire westward integration and a commitment towards globalization. Yet, Russia’s select isolationism and their economic stronghold on the region is dependent on the involvement of old satellite and communist states in the region. Montenegro joined NATO in 2017 in a very calculated attempt to prove to the west that they desired globalization. Additionally, this signaled to the EU that Montenegro was ready to take the next step in EU membership Montenegro’s desire to join NATO did not come without controversy as pro-Russian supporters had direct involvement in the backlash. On October 16, 2016, the day of the Montenegrin Parliamentary elections, 20 people were arrested and later charged for their involvement in an attempted coup d’etat. This was in direct response to Montenegro’s stated desire for NATO ascension. Montenegrin special investigative committees determined that a group of 500 people consisting of Russians, Serbians, and Montenegrins that had Russian state backing were behind the plot that aimed to attack parliament and assassinate Prime Minister Milo Dukanovic. While Russia’s government denied involvement, the ensuing trial determined that Russian involvement was extremely likely. Following the failed coup d’etat, Parliament voted to join NATO with the final vote being 46-0 as the rest of parliament boycotted the vote. Russia will most likely continue to meddle in the politics of countries such as Montenegro as they are slowly losing old communist states to western influence. While they were not successful in preventing NATO membership, their presence in the country is felt. If Serbia were to join the NATO or the EU, this would be a big loss for the Russian government. Serbia’s history with NATO is rocky after the bombings in 1999 during the Kosovo War. Unlike other former Yugoslav nations, Serbia has been averse to joining NATO. Yet, talks between Serbia and the EU have begun. Serbia’s position is different to that of Montenegro as Serbian allegiance is an important one to Russia. Overall, Russia’s ideological influence on Montenegro slipping away and in order to prevent this, future intervention may occur.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/montenegro
Speaking as someone who knows very little about Montenegro as a country, I thought you did an excellent job delivering these answers. Both of these answers were quite well written and had good flow to them. Additionally, you made your answers extremely simple to understand for a person who does not know much in general about your country.
In terms of question 1, I liked the way you started quite broadly to explain a bit about Montenegro’s political background before jumping into the finer details. I also really liked the way you tied your answer directly to Bleich reading, which in turn helped with my own understanding.
In terms of question 2, I think much what I said before applies here. The thing that stuck out to me which I thought was interesting was the connection you drew between certain countries joining NATO which would lessen Russia’s control over the country. Lastly, I completely agree with your final statement on intervention because it is true, only time will tell.