The Balkans The Balkans: A Post-Communist History is a country-by-country treatment of the contemporary history of each of the Balkan states: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosova. This survey focuses on political and economic continuities and changes since the 1980s. It includes brief overviews of the history of each state prior to the 1980s to provide the background to enable readers to make sense of the more recent devel- opments. The book has a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining divergent patterns of historical change. This shifts the emphasis away from traditional cultural explanations, especially cultural and national stereotyping, and instead concentrates on the pervasive influence of strongly entrenched vertical power structures and power relations. The Balkans is an excellent companion volume to the successful A History of Eastern Europe, by the same authors. This is an invaluable book for all students of Eastern European history. Robert Bideleux is a Reader in the School of Humanities and Ian Jeffries is a Reader in the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Wales, Swansea. Their publications include A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change (Routledge, 1998). The Balkans A post-Communist history Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group, an informa business © 2007 Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bideleux, Robert. The Balkans : a post-communist history / Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries. – 1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 0–415–22962-6 (hardback) — ISBN 0–415–22963–4 (pbk.) 1. Balkan Peninsula–History–1989– 2. Post-communism–Balkan Peninsula. I. Jeffries, Ian. II. Title. DR48.6.B53 2006 949.6–dc22 2006011073 ISBN 0-203-96911-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-22962-6 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-22963-4 (pbk) ISBN10: 0-203-96911-1 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-22962-3 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-22963-0 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-96911-3 (ebk) For Catherine Lee, with love from Robert and with heartfelt thanks from both of us for helping to make the completion of this huge project possible Contents List of tables viii Preface x List of abbreviations xv Map xx 1 Conceptual frameworks: ‘The Balkans’ and the nature of post-Communist democratization and economic transformations 1 2 Albania: between a rock and a hard place 22 3 Bulgaria: the Devil has all the best tunes 73 4 Romania: the road to the EU is paved with good intentions 125 5 Croatia: paying a price 183 6 Serbia: from Serbdom to pariahdom 233 7 Bosnia and Herzegovina: the travails of coexistence 329 8 Macedonia: towards a bi-national state? 405 9 Montenegro: to be or not to be? 471 10 Kosova: the forging of a nation and a state 512 11 The post-Communist Balkans, the West and the EU: major challenges and contradictions between rhetoric and reality 581 Bibliography 595 Index 609 Tables 1.1 Key economic statistics, 2004 6 1.2 The post-Communist Balkans: population and indicators of economic growth, economic recovery and privatization 20 2.1 Albania: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 44 2.2 Albanian people’s assembly election, 22 and 29 March 1992 45 3.1 Ethnic and religious affiliation of population of Bulgaria 74 3.2 Bulgaria: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 95 3.3 Bulgarian grand national assembly election, 10 and 17 June 1990 96 3.4 Bulgarian national assembly election, 13 October 1991 99 3.5 Bulgarian parliamentary election, 18 December 1994 103 3.6 Bulgarian parliamentary election, 17 June 2001 112 3.7 Bulgarian parliamentary election, 25 June 2005 120 4.1 Romanian assembly of deputies election, 20 May 1990 146 4.2 Romania: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 148 4.3 Romanian assembly of deputies election, 27 September 1992 151 4.4 Romanian presidential election, 3 and 17 November 1996 155 4.5 Romanian house of deputies election, 3 November 1996 156 4.6 Romanian presidential election, 26 November and 10 December 2000, first round results 165 4.7 Romanian chamber of deputies election, 26 November 2000 166 4.8 Romanian municipal election, 2 and 20 June 2004 172 4.9 Romanian chamber of deputies election, 29 November 2004 174 4.10 Romanian presidential election, 28 November and 12 December 2004, first round results 175 5.1 Ethnic affiliations of population of Croatia, 1991 and 2001 183 5.2 Croatian house of representatives election, 2 August 1992 204 5.3 Croatian house of representatives election, 29 October 1995 207 5.4 Republic of Croatia: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 209 5.5 Croatian parliamentary election, 3 January 2000 216 5.6 Croatian house of representatives election, 23 November 2003 225 6.1 Ethnic affiliations of population of Serbia, 2002 233 6.2 Serbian presidential election, 9 December 1990 244 6.3 Serbian parliamentary election, 8 and 23 December 1990 245 6.4 Federal parliament election, 31 May 1992 247 6.5 Skupstina (Serbian parliamentary) election, 20 December 1992 248 6.6 Serbian parliamentary election, 19 and 26 December 1993 250 6.7 Serbia and Montenegro: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 251 List of tables ix 6.8 Federal parliamentary election, 3 November 1996 255 6.9 Serbian parliamentary election, 21 September 1997 259 6.10 Federal parliamentary election, 24 September 2000 270 6.11 (a) and (b) Federal presidential election, 24 September 2000 271 6.12 Serbian parliamentary election, 23 December 2000 279 6.13 Serbian presidential election, 29 September, 2002, first round 297 6.14 Serbian parliamentary election, 28 December 2003 309 7.1 Bosnia-Herzegovina parliamentary election, 18 and 25 November 1990 342 7.2 All-Bosnian parliamentary election, 14 September 1996 363 7.3 FBiH parliamentary election, 14 September 1996 363 7.4 Republika Srpska national assembly election, 14 September 1996 363 7.5 Republika Srpska national assembly election, 22–23 November 1997 369 7.6 All-Bosnian house of representatives election, 12–13 September 1998 373 7.7 FBiH house of peoples election, 12–13 September 1998 373 7.8 Republika Srpska national assembly election, 12–13 September 1998 374 7.9 All-Bosnian house of representatives election, November 2000 376 7.10 FBiH house of representatives election, November 2000 377 7.11 Republika Srpska national assembly election, November 2000 377 7.12 All-Bosnian house of representatives election, 5 October 2002 385 7.13 Bosnia and Herzegovina: selected economic indicators, 1993–2005 398 8.1 Ethnic affiliations of population of Macedonia, 1981–2002 406 8.2 Macedonian parliamentary election, 11 and 25 November and 9 December 1990 411 8.3 Macedonian parliamentary election, 16 and 30 October 1994 417 8.4 Macedonian parliamentary election, 18 October and 1 November 1998 420 8.5 Macedonian parliamentary election, 15 September 2002 450 8.6 Republic of Macedonia: selected economic indicators, 1990–2005 459 9.1 Ethnic affiliations of population of Montenegro, 1953–2003 472 9.2 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 9 and 16 December 1990 477 9.3 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 20 December 1992 478 9.4 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 3 November 1996 481 9.5 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 31 May 1998 484 9.6 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 22 April 2001 493 10.1 Kosovan parliamentary election, 17 November 2001 565 10.2 Kosovan parliamentary election, 23 October 2004 573 Preface This book has been over seventeen years in the making. Since 1989 we have both been deeply engrossed in the momentous and sometimes gruesome dramas which were being acted out by the formerly Communist-ruled peoples on the Balkan Peninsula – in an awesome Greek tragedy which unfolded in slow motion. These peoples have not only had to battle with the arduous challenges of post-Communist democratiza- tion and establishing more ‘horizontally structured’ liberal market economies and civil societies based upon the rule of law, but have also been engaged (for the most part involuntarily) in grim struggles to survive or to avoid getting sucked into the terrible vortex of Yugoslav disintegration. While the global media have mainly focused on the gore, the systematic killings, the ethnic cleansing and the profoundly cynical manipulation and exploitation of highly emotive issues and problems by the region’s ruthless, lethal, clientelistic and corrupt power-holders (usually for ill-gotten personal gains), we have been more impressed by the stoic courage, powers of endurance and determination to pull through and build new lives displayed by the 53 million inhabitants of the countries under consideration. This book has been written as a companion to our History of Eastern Europe (1998), which deals with the Balkans and East Central Europe more thematically – a panoramic view rather than the country-by-country treatment offered here in The Balkans. The country-by-country approach results in a very different ‘take’ on the region.