Controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Montenegro

The controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Montenegro is an ongoing dispute over the national identity, ethnic and linguistic identity of Montenegrins. The central issue is whether Montenegrins constitute a distinct ethnic group or a subgroup of Serbs (along with Serbia, Bosnian Serbs, etc.). This divide has its historical roots in the first two decades of the 20th Century, during which the pivotal political issue has been the dilemma between retaining national sovereignty of Montenegro, advocated by supporters of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, most notably Greens, i.e. members of the True People's Party, and supporters of integration with the Kingdom of Serbia, and consequently with other Southern Slavic peoples under the Karađorđević dynasty, advocated by the Whites (gathered around the People's Party). This dispute has been renewed during the dissolution of Yugoslavia and consequent separation of Montenegro which declared its independence from the state union with Serbia in 2006. According to the 2011 census data, 44.98% identify as ethnic Montenegrins, while 28.73% declare as ethnic Serbs; 42.88% speak Serbian and 36.97% declare Montenegrin as their native language.

There are two variants of nationalism in Montenegro, anti-Serbian and pro-Serbian.

Metropolitan Danilo I (1696-1735) called himself "Duke of the Serb land". Metropolitan Sava called his people, the Montenegrins, the "Serbian nation" (1766). Petar I was the conceiver of a plan to form a new Slavo-Serbian Empire by joining Bay of Kotor, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Herzegovina to Montenegro and some of the highland neighbours (1807), he also wrote "The Russian Czar would be recognized as the Tsar of the Serbs and the Metropolitan of Montenegro would be his assistant. The leading role in the restoration of the Serbian Empire belongs to Montenegro."

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