Phd in STORIA E CULTURE DELL'EUROPA

Thesis title: I confini di un’identità. Le élites politico-militari nel processo unitario del Montenegro

The project, The Boundaries of Identity: Political-Military Elites in Montenegro's Unification Process, analyses the role of political-military elites in the construction of Montenegrin national identity between the 19th and early 20th centuries, placing itself within the broader debate on the formation of states and identities in the Balkans. Montenegro, characterised by the persistence of tribal structures and a long tradition of political autonomy, is an emblematic case of identity negotiation in an area historically exposed to imperial pressures, symbolic competitions and competing national models. The so-called Montenegrin question lies at the intersection between interpretations that claim a specific Montenegrin history and narratives that place Montenegrin history within the framework of Serbian national history. The research focuses on the role played by political and military elites, particularly during the reign of Nikola Petrović (1860–1918), in mediating between local traditions, institutional modernisation processes and divergent political orientations. Particular attention is paid to military training abroad (Serbia, Russia, Italy) and its impact on the positions taken by the protagonists between independence and unionism. Furthermore, the prosopographic reconstruction of the elites allows for an analysis of internal dynamics, political conflicts (klubaši, pravaši, zelenaši, bjelaši) and the competition for symbolic hegemony within the state and historical memory. Through a historical-comparative approach and the integration of Italian and Montenegrin archival sources with international historiography, Montenegrin identity emerges as a dynamic construct, the result of political strategies, institutional transformations and symbolic tensions between regional belonging, Serbian identity and autonomous state aspirations.