The Economist - USA (2020-08-29)

The EconomistAugust 29th 2020 Europe 41

M

ontenegro is oneof those countries

whose landscape—glittering moun-

tain peaks, azure seas—is every bit as mag-

nificent as it looks in tourist brochures.

The campaign for its general election on

August 30th, however, has been ugly. The

government’s supporters accuse the main

opposition coalition of being “clerical fas-

cists”. The opposition call on voters not to

back “unbelievers”. How things came to

this pass requires a bit of explanation.

President Milo Djukanovic has ruled

Montenegro since 1989, whether as presi-

dent, prime minister or head of the ruling

party. His party will probably win this time

too. But things have not been entirely plac-

id. In 2016 the government said it had foiled

an election-day coup plot led by opposition

leaders and backed by Russia. This year Mr

Djukanovic has been rattled by recurrent

protests, which draw tens of thousands of

people waving Serbian flags and led by

priests. You might think Montenegrins

would be upset about the economy: tou-

rism generates a fifth of gdp, which may

shrink by 9% this year because of covid-19.

Indeed, many protesters are fed up with

poor government services, corruption,

nepotism and other ills. But rather than ad-

dressing such concerns, the big parties are

arguing about religion.

Last December the government passed a

law stipulating that unless religious

groups can prove their title to property

owned before 1918, when Montenegro be-

came part of the new country of Yugo-

slavia, it belongs to the state. Priests of the

Serbian Orthodox Church, the country’s

main denomination, accuse the govern-

ment of attacking religious freedom and

promoting a “satanic cult”, by which they

mean the small Montenegrin Orthodox

Church, which they say Mr Djukanovic fa-

vours. Whether or not the new law is a land

grab, says Kenneth Morrison, a historian,

the dispute has become a struggle for the

country’s political soul.

About 75% of Montenegrins are Serbian

Orthodox, and since 1918 the issue of

whether they should simply be considered

Serbs (and hence whether their state

should be part of Serbia) has waxed and

waned. Now it has returned in a different

form. Serbian nationalists have begun talk-

ing of the “Serbian world”, much as Russian

nationalists call their area of influence the

“Russian world”. This does not necessarily

mean that Montenegro and ethnic-Serb

partsofBosniaandKosovoshouldbefused

withSerbia,butthattheyshouldstayfirm-

lyinitssphereofinfluence.

Montenegro’soppositionisdividedbe-

tween those who fly Serbian flags and

thosewhodon’t.Whenprotesterschant

“Montenegro,Serbia—onefamily”,theyre-

mindBosniaks(Muslimsbyheritage),Al-

baniansandCroats,whotogetherare18%

ofthepopulation,thatasmuchastheymay

notlikeMrDjukanovic,theydislikeSerbi-

annationalismevenmore.This,withadd-

ed vote-buying and fraud, has made a

democratictransferof power in Monte-

negrorather theoretical.Nogovernment

haseverchangedhandsinanelection. 7

A vicious split over religion

Montenegro’s election

Not very Christian

Crosswiththegovernment

A

huge modernist university campus

is emerging amid farmland on a pla-

teau south of the French capital. The Uni-

versity of Paris-Saclay, officially launched

this year, merges some 20 higher-educa-

tion and research institutions. It has a

teaching and research staff of 9,000, cater-

ing to 48,000 students—more than Har-

vard or Stanford. Specialised in science, it

is France’s attempt to create, in President

Emmanuel Macron’s words, an “mità la

française”. Such ambition once seemed fan-

ciful. Yet in August Paris-Saclay stormed

into the Shanghai world university rank-

ing, grabbing 14th place overall and 3rd in

Europe after Cambridge and Oxford. It took

the top international spot in maths.

France’s two-tier higher-education sys-

tem baffles outsiders. Three-fifths of its

2.7m students are enrolled in universities.

These are public. Until recently they did

not select undergraduates at entry; they

charge no tuition bar a small enrolment

fee, and are often sneered at as second-rate.

An elite minority, meanwhile, attend selec-

tive grandes écoles, for which entrance ex-

ams require at least two years of post-sec-

ondary-school cramming. To confuse

matters further, research is traditionally

carried out not in universities or grandes

écolesbut in specialised public institutes.

Over the years, this unusual structure

has led to much French frustration about

foreign perceptions. The country has

world-class engineering schools, econom-

ics departments and mathematicians.

After America, France has more Fields

medal-winners for maths than any other

country. Yet its fragmented system—partly

down to the deliberate splitting of big uni-

versities after the 1968 student protests—

has left it under-performing in world rank-

ings and lacking global star appeal. In 2007

Valérie Pécresse, then the universities

minister, began to give them more inde-

pendence in order to encourage collabora-

tion and scale. An international jury was

invited to award big public budgets to pro-

mising merger projects. Over a decade lat-

er, these new giant rebranded universities,

including Paris-Saclay, are the result.

Like all mergers, forming Paris-Saclay

entailed years of squabbling. Originally,

Polytechnique, France’s top engineering

grande école, was to join. But it feared losing

its reputation for excellence if engulfed by

a much bigger university. Researchers

from all member institutions had to agree

to publish under the new name in order to

achieve scale and renown. As bickering

continued, a national audit concluded in

early 2017 that the entire merger project

was “deadlocked”. Later that year the newly

elected Mr Macron stepped in, realising

that the new university would have to go

ahead without Polytechnique. Its ensuing

success, says Laurent Bigorgne, director of

the Institut Montaigne, a think-tank, “is al-

most the revenge of the universities over

the grandes écoles.”

Sylvie Retailleau, president of Paris-Sa-

clay, points out that those grandes écoles

and niche scientific-research institutes

that did join have in fact retained a separate

identity, a bit like faculty departments.

“Respect for diversity is our strength,” she

says, even if it will take time to get used to a

new dual identity and gain recognition

from the Parisian elite with its powerful

alumni networks. In the meantime, Paris-

Saclay is enjoying its moment. A decade

ago, French educationalists would lecture

outsiders on how meaningless world rank-

ings were for their higher education. Now

the French have begun to crack the system,

and are praising the result. 7

PARIS

France builds a top global

university—at last

French higher education

Saclay sacré