Transformation of citizenship regimes in Serbia since 1990: The key elements

pages: 63-82

Abstract

The discussion on citizenship in Serbia, as laid out in this paper, is a proposal to look at the citizenship regimes as reflections of (changing) trends in the ways the body of citizens and nation is being conceptualized and consequently managed within a given political community by its policy makers. This is a perspective from which citizenship can be seen as a means of giving legal substance to the underlying idea of congruence between state and nation. I will argue that the legacy of different attempts at defining the relation between the Serbian state and the people, coupled with the wider context of Yugoslav conflicts and post-conflict developments in the region, led to an unconsolidated citizenship regime in Serbia with varying and contested conceptions about how to achieve congruence of state, territory and nation. Keywords: citizenship regimes, Serbia, Yugoslav wars, Kosovo