Slobodan Miloevi (Serbian Cyrillic: , pronounced [slobdan mileit] (listen); 20 August 1941 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, from 1989 to 1992) and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. Formerly a high-ranking member of the League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) during the 1980s, he led the Socialist Party of Serbia from its foundation in 1990 until 2003.

Born in Poarevac, he studied law at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and joined the League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia as a student. During the 1960s he served as an advisor to mayor of Belgrade Branko Pei, and was later appointed chairman of Tehnogas and Beobanka, roles which he served until the 1980s. Miloevi rose to power in 1987 by promoting populist and nationalist views, arguing for the reduction of power of Serbia's autonomous provinces and increased centralism. He was elected president of Socialist Republic of Serbia in 1989 and led the anti-bureaucratic revolution, after which he reformed Serbia's constitution by transitioning Serbia to a multi-party system, and reduced the power of autonomous provinces. Following the 1990 general elections, Miloevi enacted a dominant-party rule while his party retained control over key economic resources of the state.The constituent republics of the Yugoslavia split apart amid the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, while Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Miloevi played a major role in the wars, and negotiated the Dayton Agreement on behalf of Bosnian Serbs, which ended the Bosnian War in 1995. During his reign, numerous anti-government and anti-war protests took place, while it is also estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 people deserted the Miloevi-controlled Yugoslav People's Army, and that between 100,000 and 150,000 people emigrated from Serbia, refusing to participate in the wars. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Miloevi was charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with war crimes in connection with the Bosnian War, the Croatian War of Independence, and the Kosovo War. He became the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes. Observers have described his political behavior as populist, eclectic and opportunist. Miloevi resigned from the Yugoslav presidency amid demonstrations after the disputed presidential election of 24 September 2000, and was arrested by Yugoslav federal authorities on 31 March 2001 on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement. The initial investigation into Miloevi faltered due to lack of evidence, prompting prime minister Zoran ini to extradite him to the ICTY to stand trial for war crimes instead. At the outset of the trial, Miloevi denounced the Tribunal as illegal because it had not been established with the consent of the United Nations General Assembly; therefore, he refused to appoint counsel for his defence. Miloevi conducted his own defence in the five-year trial, which ended without a verdict when he died in his prison cell in The Hague on 11 March 2006. Miloevi suffered from heart ailments and hypertension, and died of a heart attack. The Tribunal denied any responsibility for Miloevi's death and said that he had refused to take prescribed medicines and medicated himself instead.After Miloevi's death, the ICTY and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals found that he was a part of a joint criminal enterprise to remove Croats and Bosniaks from large parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded separately in the Bosnian Genocide Case that there was no evidence linking him to genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces during the Bosnian War. However, the Court did find that Miloevi and others in Serbia had violated the Genocide Convention by failing to prevent the genocide from occurring, by not cooperating with the ICTY in punishing its perpetrators, in particular general Ratko Mladi, and by violating its obligation to comply with the provisional measures the Court ordered. Miloevi's rule has been described as authoritarian or autocratic, as well as kleptocratic, with numerous accusations of electoral fraud, political assassinations, suppression of press freedom and police brutality.

The president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or the president of the Republic for short, was the head of state of that country from 14 January 1953 to 4 May 1980. Josip Broz Tito was the only person to occupy the office. Tito was also concurrently President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Tito was eventually declared president for life and with his death in 1980 the office was discontinued and the new office of President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia took its place.

The 1946 constitution defined the government of Yugoslavia headed by a president (commonly known as prime minister) as the highest administrative authority in the country. Tito served as Prime Minister during the entire period up to adoption of the 1953 constitution. This law proclaimed the country to be a socialist republic and removed all previous references to a government, ministries, etc. Instead it defined the office of president and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in place of the government. The president was to serve as head of state and would also preside over the FEC, a body of 30–40 members, some of whom would be selected to be federal secretaries. Tito moved from the position of prime minister to president on 14 January 1953 and was subsequently re-elected on 29 January 1954 and 19 April 1958.

The 1963 constitution specifically gave Tito an unlimited number of terms. It also defined a new office of President of the Federal Executive Council which would head that institution rather than the president. Tito could still convene the Federal Executive Council, remained head of state and commander-in-chief of the Yugoslav People's Army, and concurrently still served as head of the communist party. He was re-elected by the Federal Assembly under this system again in 1963 and 1968.

Constitutional amendments in 1971 created a new collective presidency consisting of republican representatives, still presided over by the president of the Republic. The 1974 constitution gave the then 82-year old

Tito an unlimited mandate, making him president-for-life. It also created a new rotating office of President of the Presidency which would take effect in the event of Tito's death. The sitting vice president of the Presidency would succeed him in this case. This eventually occurred on 4 May 1980 when Lazar Koliševski became the first president of the presidency upon Tito's death.