The territorial organization of Serbia is regulated by the Law on Territorial Organization,[1] adopted by the National Assembly of Serbia on 29 December 2007.[2] Under the Law, the units of the territorial organization are: municipalities, cities and autonomous provinces.[1]
Serbia is also divided into 29 districts under the Government's Enactment of 29 January 1992.[3]
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Serbia has two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina in the north (39 municipalities and 6 cities) and Kosovo and Metohija[1] in the south (28 municipalities and 1 city). The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (or just Kosovo for short) has been transferred to the administration of UNMIK since June 1999. In February 2008, the Government of Kosovo declared its independence, a move recognized by, as of October 2011, 86 countries (including most of the European Union and the USA) but not recognized by Serbia or the United Nations.
The province of Vojvodina has its own assembly and government. It enjoys autonomy on certain matters, such as infrastructure, science, education and culture.[4]
The area that lies between Vojvodina and Kosovo was called Central Serbia before 2009. Central Serbia was not an administrative division (unlike the autonomous provinces), and it did not have any regional authority of its own. In 2009-2010, the territory of Central Serbia was divided into 3 statistical regions and it is no longer regarded as a single statistical unit by the Serbian government.
In 2009, the National Assembly of Serbia adopted the Law on Equal Territorial Development that formed 7 statistical regions in the territory of Serbia.[5] The Law was amended on 7 April 2010,[6][7] so that the number of regions was reduced to 5. The Eastern Serbia was merged with Southern Serbia and Šumadija was merged with Western Serbia.
The five statistical regions are:
Serbia is divided into 150 municipalities and 24 cities[1], which form the basic units of local self-government.
As in many other countries, municipalities are the basic entities of local self-government in Serbia. Each municipality has an assembly (elected every 4 years in local elections), a municipal president, public service property and a budget. Municipalities usually have more than 10,000 inhabitants[1].
Municipalities comprise local communities, which mostly correspond to settlements (villages) in the rural areas (several small villages can comprise one local community, and large villages can contain several communities). Urban areas are also divided into local communities. Their roles include communication of elected municipal representatives with citizens, organization of citizen initiatives related with public service and communal issues. They are presided over by councils, elected in semi-formal elections, whose members are basically volunteers. The role of local communities is far more important in rural areas; due to proximity to municipal centers, many urban local communities are defunct.
Cities are another type of local self-government. Territories with the status of "city" usually have more than 100,000 inhabitants[1], but are otherwise very similar to municipalities. There are 23 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own. Only cities have mayors, although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as "mayors" in everyday usage.
The city may or may not be divided into "city municipalities". Five cities, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Požarevac and Kragujevac comprise several municipalities, divided into urban and suburban areas. Competences of cities and their municipalities are divided. Of those, only Novi Sad did not undergo the full transformation, as the newly formed municipality of Petrovaradin exists only formally; thus, the Municipality of Novi Sad is largely equated to City of Novi Sad (and the single largest municipality in the country, with around 300,000 residents).
Municipalities and cities are gathered into districts, which are regional centers of state authority, but have no assemblies of their own; they present purely administrative divisions, and host various state institutions such as funds, office branches and courts. Districts are not defined by the Law on Territorial Organisation, but are organised under the Government's Enactment of 29 January 1992.[3]
Serbia is divided into 29 districts (17 in Central Serbia, 7 in Vojvodina and 5 in Kosovo), while the city of Belgrade presents a district of its own.
The Byzantine Empire called the lands of the South Slavs "Sclaviniaes" (from the Sclaveni, the Southwestern branch), and they were initially outside Imperial control. By the second half of the 7th century, most of the Slavs in proximity to Byzantium had recognized the Emperor's supreme rule.
By the 10th century, the Serbian kingdom possessed 2 geographical divisions, the Maritime and the Hinterlands, composed of several regions (principalities):
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Hinterland
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| Name | Significant place |
|---|---|
| Rascia (Raška) | Stari Ras |
| Bosnia (Bosna) | Vrhbosna |
| Travunia (Travunija) | Trebinje |
| Doclea-Zeta (Duklja) | Duklja |
| Pagania (Paganija) | Omiš |
| Zachlumia (Zahumlje) | Ston |
Konavle was of a status lower than the states, and higher than the Zhupas, considered part of Travunia.
The Socialist Republic of Serbia, and later the Republic of Serbia (from September 28, 1990) had a complex administrative division whereby Central Serbia was subdivided into nine Intermunicipal Regional Communities (Međuopštinske regionalne zajednice - MRZ)[8]. These were:
The City of Belgrade (numbered 1 on the map) was considered the capital city of Serbia and officially designated as the Collectivity of City Municipalities of Belgrade, also known as Greater Belgrade (or the Metropolitan Area of Belgrade) in geographical literature.
MRZs existed officially until December 31, 1990.
Although the Serbian laws treat Kosovo as every other part of Serbia, and divide it into 5 districts, 28 municipalities and 1 city,[1] the UNMIK administration adopted new territorial organisation of Kosovo in 2000. This move is not recognized by Serbia, but is recognized by the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. According to the new subdivision, Kosovo is divided into 7 (new) districts and 37 municipalities (8 new municipalities were created: Mališevo, Đeneral Janković, Gračanica, Junik, Klokot-Vrbovac, Mamuša, Parteš and Ranilug).[9] The "Serb" districts function in the areas where Kosovo Serbs live, but are only recognized by Serbs, while the "UNMIK" districts, which function in all of Kosovo, are recognized only by Kosovo Albanians.
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