Wikipedia mentions 12 UN members not yet explicitly recognizing Montenegro, and 7 UN members not having diplomatic relationship with Croatia. At first, I thought this is something about Montenegro and Croatia themselves, but Bhutan, appearing in both list, deliberately isolates themselves to the point of their PM saying they don't need formal relationship with the USA, Germany, and France.
I can see the reason for not recognizing a country due to political pressure, such as Taiwan, Israel, and Cyprus. But when there's no political quarrel and over a decade has passed since the declaration of independence and cessation of violence, why don't some countries still haven't recognize the other? If it's about the financial cost, one of the world's poorest, Burundi managed to establish diplomatic relations with both Montenegro and Croatia (though it doesn't include recognition, or is that implicit?). In Croatia-Burundi case it seems that both countries UN representatives can just sign a document, no shuttling people back and forth required, yet it only happened last May, two decades after the end of Yugoslav War. Are there complex legal procedures they need to tackle in-between?
