Good morning! Milo Djukanovic, Ranko Krivokapic and Slavko Perovic can rightly be considered the political founding fathers of the restoration of Montenegrin independence. Slavko preserved the dream of an independent Montenegro, Milo turned that dream into reality, and Ranko gave it form and structure. For the Montenegro we have today, we should be grateful to these politicians who, alongside countless other known and unknown intellectuals, diplomats, workers, students, activists and donors, carried the project through to the very end.
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Milo, Ranko and Slavko – Three key figures in Montenegro’s independence
It is difficult to write this text at a time when the former independence-supporting elite is now in opposition — divided, quarrelling, and without a clear idea of how to continue its political existence. This is not an attempt to defend them, even less a eulogy or praise, God forbid. It is an attempt to acknowledge the political work behind the restoration of Montenegro’s independence. Ranko once explained this well himself in a self-critical joke at the time of independence, saying that history could have chosen better people to carry such a project. And he was not wrong. There is much we can criticise all three of them for. But we cannot deny what they achieved — and they achieved a great deal.
Slavko Perovic took over leadership of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro shortly after its founding, turning it into the largest and most successful Montenegrin independence-supporting party of the early 1990s. At a time when the DPS served Slobodan Milosevic the way Pipun serves Vucic today, Slavko repeated: “a free individual, free people, an independent Montenegro, a free market, unlimited private property and liberal civic democracy in Montenegro.” He spoke about Montenegro in the EU and NATO while the DPS was developing the grey economy and figuring out how to evade sanctions. Together with his liberals, the SDP, and a small number of citizens and intellectuals, Slavko preserved the dream of an independent Montenegro. Unfortunately, the anti-war independence movement could not independently become a serious political force.
Milo Djukanovic formally took over the leadership of the state apparatus before the age of thirty. At the time, everyone understood that he was not truly running the state as much as Milosevic and the older cadres of the anti-bureaucratic coup clique were. Yet in 1996 — younger than Spajic, Milatovic, Abazovic and Becic are today — he decided, for whatever reasons, to rise against Milosevic and overturn Montenegrin politics. He quickly defeated Milosevic’s candidate Bulatovic and consolidated his power in Montenegro. Parts of the pro-Serbian anti-Milosevic and anti-DPS People’s Party, as well as the SDP — a smaller party from the anti-war independence movement — sided with him. Gradually, Djukanovic abandoned the idea of Yugoslavia and, against the wishes of the EU and the West, through several political iterations, using his party and security infrastructure and the international connections he had built, managed to successfully carry through the project of restoring Montenegrin independence and bringing Montenegro into NATO.
Ranko Krivokapic took the helm of the SDP when the party was already an established coalition partner of the DPS in a governing alliance that would last nearly two decades. Through his party’s participation in government, Ranko channelled the intellectual and ideological core of Montenegrin civic nationalism and shaped the state through national symbolism and constitutional architecture. Through his legal instincts and refusal to compromise, he laid the hard foundations of state identity and foreign policy orientation — foundations that proved resilient even during the political earthquake of 2020, which many of us doubted Montenegro could survive.
These three leaders deserve every recognition, and if Montenegro were to reintroduce Danilo’s Order for Independence, the three of them would be its only first-order recipients.
This does not mean these men are without stain. Djukanovic, though very young and not all-powerful at the time, was part of the movement that sealed Yugoslavia’s fate and plunged the region into bloody war. The country became prey to organised crime, and the line between state security and narcotics and tobacco cartels faded. The DPS consumed the institutions, and too many concessions were made to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Many will argue that without these things Montenegro probably would not have survived — and they would not necessarily be wrong. The project of restoring Montenegrin independence was such an unlikely undertaking that it could only be achieved through immense political pragmatism and numerous moral compromises many of us would never have accepted. Many from Djukanovic’s circle, including himself, also became wealthy during the process.
Slavko Perovic, besides being a victim of the regime, was also a victim of his own hyper-destructive ego. Through an authoritarian leadership style, paranoia and harshness, he drove people away, excluded himself from the independence project, and masked his personal flaws behind a supposed fight against the private state. Many who followed him down that path ended up collaborating with Greater Serbian nationalists. Slavko himself did not, but he completely isolated himself and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.
Ranko Krivokapic had a similar problem to Slavko, though with much milder symptoms. But his greatest sin lay elsewhere. Under his leadership, the SDP became a channel for sinecures and the shortest route to state-funded privileges. I know this because I myself was part of that staff aqueduct. As a party, we became synonymous with political patronage employment. That lasted until the split in 2015, when the party broke into two factions. In addition, Ranko and the SDP leadership became too immersed in court intrigues — so focused on manoeuvring and political feints that, in the end, they outmanoeuvred themselves.
Alongside these figures, there were many independent intellectuals and fighters for an independent Montenegro, without whom independence would not have been possible. Some of them are no longer with us. We should mention Branko Lukovac, Miro Vickovic and many others who deserve to be remembered today and posthumously honoured during this jubilee. In the media sphere, one must mention Monitor, the Montenegrin cultural institution Matica Crnogorska, the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, the people of Cetinje and Rozaje. That generation of people — with all their virtues and flaws — should never be forgotten.
That is all 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)
