The foreign policy of Montenegro in the process of restoring the independence 1997-2006

The article analyzes the crucial foreign policy steps taken by the Montenegrin authorities in the process of restoring state independence. The research covers the period from the second half of 1997, when the state and political top of Montenegro split into pro-Western and pro-Serbian currents, to 2006 when Montenegro restored its international sovereignty. The success of pro-European and pro-Western political elites in the presidential (1997) and parliamentary elections (1998) directed Montenegro’s foreign policy toward the “West”, i.e. towards the membership in the European Union and NATO. In the first phase of that process (1997–1999), the Montenegrin foreign policy was primarily focused on securing international support for Montenegrin equality within the framework of the federal state made with Serbia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). After 1999, foreign policy priorities were to obtain support for the project of restoration of the State Independence of Montenegro. The article provides the results of the research based on the available archive material, daily newspapers, magazines, and literature related to the important political events that marked the period, as well as the role of crucial domestic and international actors who shaped the foreign policy orientation of Montenegro towards the restoration of independence in 2006.