Vojvodina Autonomist Movement is a political movement in the Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n province of Vojvodina

Vojvodina

Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

 that advocating more autonomy for Vojvodina within Serbia.

History

The idea was introduced during the 1990s and was more popular during the Yugoslav Wars

Yugoslav wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...

 when one part of the local population wasn't satisfied with the regime of Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...

. During this time period, Milošević's regime abolished much of the aspects of Vojvodina's autonomy

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...

, which province enjoyed during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

.

Political parties

There are (or were) several political parties or party coalitions that advocating (or advocated) more autonomy for Vojvodina. Most popular of them is the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina

League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats is a regionalist social democratic political party in Serbia...

 led by Nenad Čanak

Nenad Canak

Nenad Čanak is a Serbian politician...

. Other parties are (or were): Vojvodina Coalition

Vojvodina Coalition

Vojvodina Coalition is a political party in the Serbian province of Vojvodina....

, Reformists of Vojvodina

Reformists of Vojvodina

Reformists of Vojvodina is a political party in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. At the last legislative elections in Vojvodina, on September 19, 2004, the party won 2 seats in the provincial parliament....

, Clean Hands of Vojvodina

Clean Hands of Vojvodina

Clean Hands of Vojvodina was a political coalition in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. At the last legislative elections in Vojvodina, on September 19, 2004, the alliance won 2.29% of the popular vote, and no seats in the provincial parliament...

, Union of Socialists of Vojvodina

Union of Socialists of Vojvodina

Union of Socialists of Vojvodina is a political party in Serbia, led by Živan Berisavljević....

, Vojvodina parties

Vojvodina parties

Coalition Vojvodina parties was a political alliance in the last legislative elections in Serbia, on 21 January, 2007. The alliance won 0.18% of the popular vote, and no seats in the parliament...

, Vojvodina's Party

Vojvodina's Party

Vojvodina's Party is a political party in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. The leader of the party is Igor Kurjački....

, Vojvodinian Movement

Vojvodinian Movement

The Vojvodinian Movement is a regionalist party aiming at securing a greater autonomy for Vojvodina....

, etc. These parties are mostly led and supported by local Vojvodinian Serb population. There are also several political parties of local ethnic minorities, some of which, aside from supporting rights of ethnic minorities, are also supporting idea of more autonomy for Vojvodina.

Political proposals

There are various views among autonomist political parties about desired level of autonomy of Vojvodina. Some of the proposals are advocating (or advocated) returning to level of autonomy as it was in 1974, while other proposals are supporting idea of more autonomy than in 1990s, but somewhat less than in 1974.

One of the proposals was the proposal of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina

League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina

The League of Vojvodina Social Democrats is a regionalist social democratic political party in Serbia...

, which advocated the transformation of Serbia into the "democratic federal state" with federal units with larger or lower levels of autonomy. One of the federal units of federal Serbia, according to the proposal, would be the Republic of Vojvodina ' onMouseout='HidePop("79040")' href="/topics/Pannonian_Rusyn_language">Rusyn

Pannonian Rusyn language

Pannonian Rusyn or simply Rusyn is a Slavic language or dialect spoken by Pannonian Rusyns in north-western Serbia and eastern Croatia...

: Република Войводина). Besides Vojvodina, other federal units would be Šumadija

Šumadija

Šumadija is a geographical region in Serbia. The area is heavily covered with forests, hence the name...

, South-Eastern Serbia

Southern and Eastern Serbia

Southern and Eastern Serbia is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. It is formed in 2010.-Formation:In July 2009 Serbian parliament adopted a law which divided Serbia into seven statistical regions...

, city of Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, Sandžak

Sandžak

Sandžak also known as Raška is a historical region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro...

 and Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

. According to the League, this political solution would "stabilize Serbia as a state and would prevent any separatist tendencies on the territory of Serbia". In recent years, the League mostly abandoned the idea about Republic of Vojvodina, but it still advocating larger level of autonomy for the province.