Normalizing Serbia

Few people, either inside or outside Serbia, shed tears when Slobodan Milosevic fell from power on October 5, 2000. After more than a decade of ostracizing Serbia from the world, the doors to the international community swung open. In the weeks following the so-called "Serbian October Revolution," the international community rushed to lend political and financial assistance to the new federal government of Vojislav Ko¿tunica and his Democratic Opposition of Serbia. The December 23, 2000 parliamentary elections in Serbia and the imminent construction of a government led by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia potentially promise the beginnings of the consolidation of democratic rule in the Balkans. Yet a closer and more critical examination of the political evolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since October 5 yields a troubling portrait in which cooperation and continuity in governance, and not reform, dominates the polity. Politicians in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia must realize that, with the soon to be completed formation of Yugoslav and Serbian governments, the "honeymoon" will come to a conclusion. From that point forward, international aid will only arrive insofar as the donor nations and organizations remain content with the pace of internal reform and cooperation with major international institutions. This article seeks to provide a brief overview of the main problems confronting the governments of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia today