The term "Serbia proper" is often used in English to refer to the part of Serbia that lies outside the northern and southern autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. According to the Library of Congress, it denotes "the part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo; the ethnic and political core of the Serbian state." [1] (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/yugoslavia/yu_glos.html) It has also been used to differentiate the whole of Serbia (including the autonomous provinces) from the Serbian statelets in Croatia and Bosnia.
Its use in English is purely geographical without any particular political meaning being implied. It has been used most often by the (non-Serbian) English-language media but also by the United Nations, English-language reports by the Serbian media and even on occasion by the Serbian government. Its usage crosses political boundaries, with both pro- and anti-Serbian groups employing it.
The term is deprecated by some, apparently on the basis that it implies a distinction between Serbia and its autonomous provinces – a proposition rejected by advocates of Serbian territorial unity. The region of "Serbia proper" is not an administrative division and is called "Central Serbia" in the country itself (for example by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia). However, the usage was apparently also employed in Serbo-Croatian during the Yugoslav era, in the form of "uža Srbija".
Serbia’s championship of Pan-Slavism in the Balkans engendered bitter rivalry with Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary.
Serbia’s predominant position in the new kingdom was a major cause for unrest in Croatia and Macedonia in the period between World Wars I and II.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, established in 1992 by Serbia and Montenegro, was thoroughly dominated by Serbia, a situation that led by the end of the decade to a strong movement in Montenegro for increased autonomy or independence.
The term "Serbiaproper" is often used in English to refer to the Central Serbia, the part of Serbia that lies outside the northern and southern autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo.
The term Serbiaproper has also been used to differentiate the whole of Serbia (including the autonomous provinces) from the Serbian statelets in Croatia and Bosnia, and to differentiate the rest of Serbia (including Vojvodina) from the autonomous province of Kosovo.
The region of "Serbiaproper" is not an administrative division and is called "Central Serbia" in the country itself (for example by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia).
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