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This article explores how ideational conflicts can be managed through mediation processes by relying on methods of norm diffusion, in particular by using reframing as a distinct mediation strategy. It starts by offering a novel conceptual framework that operationalizes conflicts as a process of norm contestation. By looking at the conflicts through normative lenses, the paper expounds the link between international mediation and norm diffusion. In particular, the paper addresses how mediators may act as norm entrepreneurs, and how these activities bring to light a rather unexplored mediation strategy of reframing through which norms can be effectively diffused. The broader theoretical puzzle is illustrated through the case of EU mediation efforts in Montenegro, where the mediators used reframing strategies to effectively diffuse an unconventional norm of 55% votes in favor for the referendum to pass, that would regulate the rules and procedure of the country's referendum on independence in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Montenegro is at the same time considered both a success story as the leader of European integration in South-Eastern Europe and a country with severe democratic deficiencies. This paper builds upon the theory of democratic backsliding and uses theory-building process tracing to detect and analyse systematic patterns in the illiberal policies that the governing party uses to maintain its position in power. The three typical cases examined here reveal that assuring external control and maintaining the pretence of legality seem to be important elements of illiberal policies and that independent institutions and European standards are often used to assert and maintain control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of the antibureaucratic revolution have focused on political elites and activists in Serbia, Montenegro, and the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo. Recent scholarship has focused on individual participants, often workers, and takes their agency seriously. Building upon such research, this article explores the antibureaucratic revolution as a particular manifestation of a larger sociocultural process, constitutive of long-term structural changes across the whole of Yugoslavia. An analysis of workplace documents and local newspapers in northwest Croatia demonstrates that antibureaucratic sentiment was not the prerogative of Serbian and Montenegrins but of Yugoslav citizens more generally. Yugoslavs were conditioned by the party-state to be critical of bureaucracy. Workers began to admonish the expansion of administrative positions, which they blamed for their falling living standards. Despite decentralizing and autarkic tendencies in political and economic life in late socialist Yugoslavia, working class discontents (and representations of it) remained remarkably similar across republican boundaries. In Rijeka and its environs, a shift does not occur until in mid-1988. Condemnations of nationalism become more urgent and a skepticism toward the mass protests occurring in Serbia is palpable from this point onward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the arrangement of local self-government in Montenegro by the 2007 Constitution of Montenegro and a number of laws, in order to examine the contribution to the strenghtening of local self-government and compliance with the standards of the Council of Europe. Although required by those standards, the constitutional recognition of certain significant issues and principles of local self-government has been unaddressed, leading to failure in setting limitations to the legislature and in securing local self-government' full autonomy. The regulation of such issues is left to the legislature, which sets a solid basis for both exercising and developing local self-government powers. However, in order to continue the process of decentralization, we believe that it is necessary to strengthen local self-government at the constitutional level. The paper points to some possible improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to assess the organisational design of the public health care system of Montenegro from the organisational and legal standpoint, and in particular from the position of a likelihood for the system decentralisation through an inclusion of local self-governments with the goal to increase the quality of health care. The qualitative analysis is based on the method of case study. The research covers the analysis of Montenegrin legislation, and in particular Montenegrin and European regulations and strategic documents that refer to local self-governments and health care system. Individual and group interviews were conducted with top executives in the Ministry of Health of Montenegro, Health Insurance Fund of Montenegro and Ministry of Public Administration. The research shows that Montenegrin health system is predominantly centralised, and lacks substantial involvement by local self-government in health care related services. The need for a stronger participation of municipalities (and private entities) is indicated, for the purpose of achieving a stronger level of quality of the health care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, Montenegro's oppositional alliance Democratic Front (DF) launched 'Freedom Calling', a contentious campaign demanding regime change. Although presented as non-partisan, it did feature a party-stemming background. Thus, politics turned civil—meaning that the civil character was a disguise for a planned, creative party endeavour. Methodologically, the authors interpret the DF's campaign, elaborating on process tracing and applying Tilly and Tarrow's 'contentious politics' approach. They enquire into how the political-party background of the organizers influenced the unfolding of the contentious campaign, thereby addressing the role of parties as initiators of movements. This is especially pertinent in hybrid regimes with formally democratic institutions and persisting authoritarian practices. The Montenegrin case study of contentious (party) politics reveals that, while resources are available, the strong (ethno)political identity label of the party imposes constraints on the construction of a programmatic campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Constitution of Montenegro, the political identity of Montenegro is defined as a civic identity, and Montenegro is grounded as a civic country. In a demographic sense, according to the results of the latest population census, Montenegro can be described as a multicultural country with significant ethno-cultural pluralism. In the normative-political sense, Montenegro adopted institutional and legal provisions with the intention to introduce equality between ethno-national communities, both in their political participation and at the level of preserving their ethno-cultural specificities. Accordingly, one of the most important fields that requires improving normative solutions and practical implementations is the field of political participation of national minorities. The current legal provisions, within the electoral legislation and within the field of protection of the minority collective's rights, provide a solid foundation for political representation, but are equally bound by limitations that must be solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the possible start of an offensive war by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to satisfy the need for the U.S. to establish a neoliberal world order as mentioned by foreign affairs expert Thomas L. Friedman. The article pays significant emphasis on the role that NATO plays in the political discourse of Montenegro.

Montenegro is a country in which one of the main features of representative democracy has never developed: government replaceability. After regaining independence and initiating an EU accession process, externally driven changes have stimulated lively institutional transformations which, however, have failed to produce meaningful democratic competition.This article tries to shed some light on the following phenomenon: how is it possible that in a formally democratic legal framework the ruling (ex-communist) party keeps winning each national election? Apart from providing a contextual analysis, it seeks to describe a rather interesting concept—the image of invincibility which is, together with deep national/ethnic divisions and non-participant political attitudes, believed to be one of the key ingredients of the enigma of the last uninterrupted ex-communist incumbency in the post-communist world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes, as based on NATO enlargement strategy and its very nature underpinning democratization and social and political transformation, Montenegro’s bid for NATO membership from 2006 to 2015 by discussing two issues: on the one hand, democratic stabilization and civilian control of the armed forces, and on the other, military reform that has happened in this respect so far. The article confirms that NATO enlargement policy has profoundly impacted the process of democratic stabilization of Montenegro, which as a state has become more democratically mature and institutionally stable, in essence a consolidated democracy. The article also claims that Montenegro has demonstrated visible and significant progress in its military reform, not only by creating a good basis for improving the existing defense capabilities and capacities, but far more importantly by continuing its reform of the defense system, investing in military modernization, and achieving an appropriate level of interoperability in accordance with the NATO standards. As a result, the Montenegrin Army is readily deployable in NATO-led operations and missions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to examine the impact of the process of Europeanization on the relevant political parties in Montenegro in the period between the 2009 and 2012 parliamentary elections by focusing on an in-depth content analysis of their election manifestos. The article argues that the EU has demonstrated a limited impact on Montenegrin changes due to the existence of a strong influence of internal factors which hinder the transformative power of the EU. This assertion is particularly observable in the case of the EU impact on Montenegrin parties where the political elite expresses its unwillingness to comply with the EU requirements. The study claims that the influence of Europeanization on domestic changes will be limited in the following period unless the political elite demonstrates true political will to fully align with the EU accession conditions. The research findings may serve as a suitable framework for providing new scientific insights, as well as for the enhancement of current scientific knowledge related to this particular field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the process of political competition during the European integration process in Montenegro. While unanimously endorsing the process of its EU accession, political parties in the country are at odds with each other regarding almost all other issues of substantial importance for its past and future, including Montenegro’s state independence. This article intends to show what is in the European Union that brings divided Montenegrin political parties together, and asks if it is the EU at all? The article argues that because of the late political transition resulting from the process of dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, the main determinants of party contestation on EU integration in Montenegro differ from those in most Western and East/Central European countries. The article demonstrates that neither the ideological profile of Montenegrin political parties nor the EU’s leverage on the country's political elite during the transition period can serve as adequate explanations of this process. Instead, it posits that embracing the pro-EU stance was the easiest and arguably the most effective way for the parties under observation to establish some discontinuity with their Miloševićera shady political past, providing them with a new source of the previously lost political legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to emphasize the process of building the media environment in Montenegro with regards to media policy, legislation and institutional framework that followed the media boom in the last two decades. There has been a trend towards establishing new media entities, often focused predominantly focused on the sphere of politics. The emergence of several media entities on the media scene is often conflicting political and programmatic positions. The turbulent political events, learning media professionalism and ethics have caused the need for a serious approach to media policy legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the separation from Serbia following a referendum in 2006, the Republic of Montenegro started rebuilding its international image by reinventing its past and present. In fact, through an extensive campaign in both foreign and domestic media, the government attempted to change the perception of Montenegro’s history, focusing especially on the difference between Serbs and Montenegrins. This is understandable considering the minimal numeric superiority of those in favour of the independence, where the national factor was the main determinant. The image of the new Montenegrins, also in light of Montenegro’s route to joining the EU, must be detached from Serbia’s problems (- such as Kosovo) and must divert attention from the ever‑growing problem of international criminal traffic. One of the most emblematic examples of such recreation of virtue are the commercials for Montenegrin tourism, inviting to explore ancient forests, enjoy traditional food and experience “Montenegrin hospitality”: the aim is to send a positive message of non‑nationalistic, Europe‑friendly ethnicity. The purpose is also for Montenegro to be perceived as serene, as opposed to the ex‑partner country, seen largely as wildly nationalistic and ethnically obsessed: therefore, a new form of “soft” ethno‑cultural image has been introduced, incorporating only the best and cleverly minimizing the “non‑acceptable” aspects of its culture and history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an article about the complex role played by the concept of 'anti-fascism' in the emergence of modern Montenegrin identity. The author shows how anti-fascism becomes 'a label of convenience' which has been used and abused by politicians of all sides in the last twenty years. The article draws attention to the way in which anti-fascist rhetoric was continually redefined and exploited by those in power in Montenegro to garner approval for a series of changing and frequently contradictory approaches and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article entitled 'Evolution of Montenegro's statehood' author presented issues connected with the independence of Montenegro. In the first part is described briefly history of Montenegro's statehood from the Middle Ages to 1989. The second section is focused on the Montenegrin political events of the last decade of the twentieth century. It is divided into two parts: from the disintegration of Yugoslavia to 1997 and 1997 to founders of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. In the third part is set out Montenegrin political existence in union with Serbia. Next author analyzed the Serbian-Montenegrin relations after the announcement of independence by Montenegro. In the last section is presented the current political and economic and social situation in Montenegro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article tackles some of the questions that arise from the invocation of “the people” in independence referendums in a contextualized way by examining the constitutional experience of two independence referendums: Quebec's unsuccessful independence referendum in 1995 and Montenegro's successful one in 2006. I argue that democratic theory does not presuppose the unified people as a decision-making unit, but rather that it conceals two, more logically primitive—and to an extent conflicted—general conceptions relevant to independence referendums. While not arbitrating between them, the concluding part argues that the tension in democratic theory ought to, at a minimum, contribute to reducing the vehemence of nationalist politics involved in attempts to achieve political independence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a short historical overview of Montenegrin parliamentarism and activities in connection with the Library of the Parliament of Montenegro since its establishment in 1953. An emphasis is placed on the need to bring this library up-to-date and to turn it into a modern parliamentary library. The status of the library within its parent organization, the Parliament of Montenegro, is analyzed, as well as the library collections (acquisition policy and organization), user profile, use and nonuse of sources and services, and staffing. Finally, the inevitability of structural changes in the Library of the Parliament of Montenegro's activity is discussed along with its goal to step into the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the postcommunist transition from 1990 to 2006 in Montenegro. The article indicates that the politics of postcommunist period in Montenegro is divided into two phases, the first phase is from the first multiparty parliamentary elections in December 1990 until the second presidential elections in October 1997 and the second phase started with the inauguration of Milo Djukanovic as president of Montenegro in January 1998 up to the present.