THE MONTENEGRIN NONGOVERNMENTAL SECTOR - PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE
THE MONTENEGRIN NONGOVERNMENTAL SECTOR - PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

Author(s): Srđan Darmanović, Rade Bojović
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Civil Society, Governance, Public Administration
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: civil society; non-governmental sector; NGOs; Milosevic's regime; the government of Montenegro; type of transition; opposition; alternative; Law on NGOs; legislative initiatives; economic sustainabili
Summary/Abstract: During the decisive final decade of the already past century, Montenegrin civil initiatives and independent media laboriously struggled against their margi­nal social status and the political climate that prevented the development of civil society. The dissolution of Yugoslavia, the war and other accompanying effects of this grave crisis, had a major impact on the Montenegrin society and state. Under such conditions, when the public scene was dominated by destructive processes, the first Montenegrin civil society institutions and organizations have been created. These relatively scarce, but rather loud representatives of the civil sector were, in fact, one of the main focuses of the opposition movement in Montenegro until the end of 1997, when a radical political change took place in Montenegro. This first period of activities of the civil society organizations was, therefore, a period of antagonistic attitude towards the Montenegrin government, since at that time the government acted as a political ally of the Milošević regime. The second period, after the political turnabout in Montenegro and the split within the ruling DPS party, spanning from 1997 till the end of 2000 - i.e. to the downfall of the Milošević regime in Belgrade - was a period of mutual tolerance and partial and occasional cooperation between the civil sector and the Montenegrin government. In certain aspects, and especially regarding the defen­ se from the common threat - the Milošević regime - this relationship included the elements of strategic alliance. Different types of political transition in Serbia and in Montenegro resulted also in different types of functioning of civil society organizations. In Serbia, the political transition ended with the final confrontation between the regime and the opposition, when an exhausted dictatorial regime came to an end in a collapse and breakdown. The civil society protagonists were not only allies of the oppo­ sition movement in Serbia in this decisive confrontation but also its integral part. In Montenegro, transition took a different course. The government in Montenegro became at the same time the opposition to the Milošević regime. Within the nominally federal system of the two-member federation that existed at that time (FRY), the government of one of the member states (Montenegro) became the adversary of the government/rćgime of the other state (Serbia/fede- ration). Within this confrontation, civil society protagonists naturally sided with the pro-democratic government, but also with their state.

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