Policy of ethno-regional identity's construction in the context of Montenegrin sovereignty in late 1990s - early 2000s

The paper analyses the ways of constructing ethno-regional identity on the example of Montenegro case. The authors outline the concept and the structure of ethno-regional identity of the Montenegrins by using system approach. The idea of territorial similarity and difference, being realized in the opposition "the Same - the Other", is central to that approach. Such a relation had been constructed in certain situations by the means of opposing "Montenegrins" to "Serbs", where "Montenegrins" served as the "Same" and "Serbs" - as the "Other". The structure of Montenegrin ethno-regional identity was supported by that concept, while the opposition "the Same - the Other" was realized on the base of ethnical, linguistic, historical, religious and social relations. On ethnic level the opposition of Montenegrins to Serbs could be traced; on linguistic level the new norms of the Montenegrin language were constructed; historical discourse created the patterns of the collective past, differing from the Serbian one; and the religious component caused a clash between the churches of both ethnic groups. The policy of construction of ethno-regional identity in Montenegro was connected with the activities of Montenegrin political elite, trying to include the population of that small Balkan region into the "European family". All means, from the emphasis on ethnic differences between Serbs and Montenegrins to the construction of "the image of the enemy", were used for it.