Religious, Ethnic, and Linguistic Distinctiveness in Political Context

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the possible influence of politics on the ethnic, linguistic, and religious distinctiveness of Montenegrins in relation to Serbs. The influence of politics on the ethnic distinctiveness of Montenegrins has especially been active since the beginning of the 21 st century; hence this period represents the main time frame of the analysis. Since the difference between Montenegrins and Serbs is very blurred in terms of ethnic, linguistic, and religious distinctiveness, one of the hypotheses we argue in this paper is about politics, which appears as the main factor that dictates the differences between these two peoples in Montenegro. Consequently, the next hypothesis we argue about is the increased political differences between Serbia and Montenegro, the widened gap between ethnic Montenegrins and Serbs, the increased number of Serbs, and the reduced number of Montenegrins. On the other hand, while harmonious relations between Serbia and Montenegro prevailed and the difference between ethnic Serbs and Montenegrins was not politically encouraged, the number of Montenegrins increased, and the number of Serbs in Montenegro decreased.