Politics and Religion in Montenegro—From “Theocracy” to a Civic State

Abstract

The relationship between religion(s) and politics, i.e., religious communities and political authorities, in Montenegro has varied and taken different forms throughout the country’s history. Available research, mostly historical in nature, is predominantly factual and does not provide a clear picture of the nature and forms of this relationship in Montenegro’s history. Through an analysis of legal–historical sources and relevant literature, this paper aims to indicate the complexity of the relationship between politics and religion through the identification and analysis of the different forms of the aforementioned relationship. The fact that Montenegro had pronounced features of a theocracy at the beginning of the creation of the state makes this context specific not only to the Balkan region, but also beyond. The concept of state religion and the period dominated by features of Caesaropapism was replaced by a period of modernisation of the state that gave rise to a separation of political and religious elements. The period of authoritarian socialism, in turn, led to the ideological suppression of religion. The early phases of democratisation in the last decade of the 20th century induced further change in the nature of the relationship between political authorities and religious communities, which continued in the new context of civic and multicultural Montenegro.