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Serbia - Vojvodina

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the war's end in 1918, Vojvodina and Montenegro united with Serbia, and former south Slav subjects of the Habsburgs sought the protection of the Serbian crown within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Serbia was the dominant partner in this state, which in 1929 adopted the name Yugoslavia. In an effort to avoid Serbian domination during the postwar years, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro were given separate and equal republican status within the new socialist federation of Yugoslavia; Kosovo and Vojvodina were made autonomous provinces within Yugoslavia.

Despite nationalist rhetoric attempting to draw parallels between the two former Yugoslav "autonomous provinces," there are key differences between Vojvodina and Kosovo's histories and current political situations. Both Vojvodina and Kosovo were given the status of autonomous provinces of Serbia in the 1974 Yugoslav constitution and enjoyed far greater powers than those provided for by the Statute today, including seats in the Yugoslav Collective Presidency alongside the six constituent republics. While Vojvodina's autonomy, like Kosovo's, was rescinded by the 1989 Serbian constitution, Vojvodina had a different and less painful fate.

During the late 1980s as Milosevic was moving to consolidate power, Belgrade-engineered protests in Vojvodina (the "Yogurt Revolution") focused on the "ineptitude" of the provincial politicians and bureaucrats and did not have an ethnic component that resulted in the tragedies in Kosovo. There was never violence in Vojvodina nor any question in the 1990s that Vojvodina was not part of Serbia.

Vojvodina, the second province of the Serbian Republic, occupied a much more favorable economic and geographic position than Kosovo, but its political status was equally ambiguous in the 1980s. This was emphasized in 1981, when ethnic Hungarians demonstrated in support of the Kosovan nationalists. In 1987 the president of Vojvodina rejected categorically Serbia's proposal that provincial autonomy be repealed. In late 1988 mass proSerbian demonstrations orchestrated by Milosevic in Vojvodina forced resignation of the Vojvodina provincial party presidium, which was replaced by a pro-Serbian group. This move ensured support for the recentralization amendments to the Serbian constitution in 1989. In the Serbian presidential election of 1989, Milosevic received a strong majority in Vojvodina, but not in Kosovo. Vojvodinian political leaders of the new regime firmly supported amendment of the Serbian constitution and other proSerbian positions.

The ethnic composition of Vojvodina has created a much different political dynamic than in Kosovo. Before it joined the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918, Vojvodina was part of the Serbian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, among others. Each ruler encouraged different ethnic groups to settle in the area. This history left Vojvodina with over two dozen ethnic groups today, but the province has long been predominantly ethnic Serb. Experts estimate that the province currently has 1.5 million Serbs and only a couple of hundred thousand minorities. Both the ethnic diversity and large ethnic Serb population have prevented identification of the province as a whole with any one country outside of Serbia.

The region had a history of relative stability in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the border with neighboring Hungary was tranquil. The ethnic Hungarian population was much smaller (16 percent in 1991, down from 19 percent in 1981) than the Albanian population of Kosovo; the nationality key, which required balanced representation in party and state for the major ethnic groups in Yugoslavia, did not apply to the ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina, but the province's relative prosperity precluded major political unrest. In 1990 Hungarian activists formed the Democratic Community of Vojrodina Hungarians (DCVH) to advance cultural autonomy and eveutual self-rule for the Hungarian Minority. Strongly backing a united Yugoslavia, the DCVH advocated equal status for the Hungarian language and publications in Vojvodina and restoration of autonomy for the province rather than independence from Serbia.

Today, no mainstream political group in Vojvodina calls for secession from Serbia or returning to a "motherland." LSV, the main proponent for increased Vojvodina autonomy, is not an ethnic party; it wants to return to the level of autonomy Vojvodina enjoyed from 1974-1988, which LSV argues helped all of Serbia prosper. LSV links the need for greater autonomy to a need for decentralization throughout Serbia. Officials from Vojvodina's Executive Council travelled around Serbia in January promoting Vojvodina autonomy as a first step in strengthening other regions of Serbia, an idea Pajtic said was gaining support.

The Vojvodina Statute is the governing legislation for the Serbia's only remaining autonomous province (and one of the most prosperous parts of the country. The statute is foreseen in Serbia's Constitution, but nationalist groups continue to criticize the statute as a slippery slope to Vojvodina's secession from Serbia. Serbia's National Assembly passed the Vojvodina Statute and Law on Transfer of Competencies on 30 November 2009, ending a year of controversy between ultra-nationalists who claim the Statute is a step toward secession of the autonomous province and proponents of increased autonomy. The Vojvodina Assembly passed the draft Statute, as required by the 2006 Constitution, in October 2008 and forwarded it to the government. The Statute replaces the current Statute and grants Vojvodina some increased jurisdiction over areas such as health, environment, and agriculture. After an initial period of public debate in late 2008, the government tabled the draft Statute and the related Law on Transfer of Competencies of Vojvodina.