Good morning! Happy Victory Day!
Do you want to rule Montenegro? Forget honesty, forget reforms. Those who know how to deceive with a smile survive here, promise everything, and deliver on a spoonful. In a land where wisdom is not valued and cunning is celebrated, a true ruler must be skilled and amoral. Here is a short manual on how to rule Montenegro.
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A guide to governing Montenegro
In a country where intelligence is measured by cunning and wisdom is trivialised, it is not easy to be a ruler. It is even more difficult to remain a ruler. Whether we want to admit it or not, Montenegro has been guided by the principle of force and adaptability for centuries. It used to be called theocracy, monarchy, dictatorship, autocracy, today it is a true hybrid. We did not transition from the dictatorship of the proletariat to democracy – we transitioned from a one-party partocracy to an oligo-partocracy. We have parties for export. And everyone wants to rule, and that costs money.
The first and basic law of Montenegrin rule, which today is dissolution, reads: rule through threats from outside. The enemy is your best ally. That’s why Vucic was good for DPS. If you don’t have one, invent one. And Montenegro did not need to invent it. In the era of the dominant party, the homogenization of the electorate did not come exclusively through employment and crony distribution of resources, but also through the feeling of being threatened. The national idea was not only an identity idea – it was functional. Sometimes when I lose my spirit, I think that independence was just a side-effect of the tactics of staying in power. And even if that was the case, it was worth it.
The second rule: the state and the party must be inseparable – but invisibly. DPS did it with elegance. No one knew where one ended and the other began. It was a system, weighted, predictable, even when it was unfair. After 2020, we got a separation. This is a democratic shift, because the diffusion of power brings more freedom. But at the same time, the state has become more expensive. Now you no longer satisfy one boss, but thirty of them.
The third rule: when you cannot defeat them, join them – do not separate from the Serbian Church. The only force that managed to centralise power in this chaos is the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its infrastructure is capillary, deep, and operational. And within it – frictions, fights, and games that shape political reality. A ruler who does not count on that force, but only on the departments, ends up as a figurehead.
The fourth rule: be cunning. In Montenegro, you will not be forgiven for trying to be good. They will forgive you for having been successful, even if it meant cheating. Mandic knows that. He played the game as it is played – quietly, precisely, without illusions. Spajic tried to be Gramsci’s candle in the hall of mirrors – to shine differently on everyone, to tell everyone what they want to hear. But a promise, if not backed up by delivery, does not last long. This is a double-edged game. People like to be told a fairy tale, but they also like to get paid. In small amounts, but regularly.
The fifth rule: PR without infrastructure is an empty shell. PES believed in energy, in optimism, in a good narrative about the great future. But without the network, without people on the ground, without the party machine, it all lasts as long as an Instagram story. DF knows how to make a party. They know who is looking for a job in Zupa, and who in Zabljak is looking for a connection to get a job for their son. And they deliver all that little by little. PES thinks that the voter is grateful to them – but the voter knows who to turn to when they really need something.
The sixth rule: if you don’t have an army – buy the media. But smartly. If your propaganda service is made up of people who have served everyone – Milo, Dritan, and now you – then they will serve you as a waiter, not as a soldier. In politics, you don’t need beneficiaries – you need believers. Those who believe in you even when everything is on fire. The Democrats lost that. URA lost that. PES is on the same path. DF has its own Gojko and Drazen, who will be there even when things go wrong.
And that’s why, if you want to rule Montenegro today, forget the principles. Build a network. Bribe. Blackmail. Feign peace, spread fear. Stir, lie, make a name, as Sobic says. Talk about reforms, and hire your best men. Promise Europe, but dance with the right-wing ethno-national church. A ruler does not have to be loved – they have to be needed. And when they lose the faith of the people, they must have a system that does not allow them to fall. As they say – too big to fall.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)
