Nation-building Under the Societal Security Dilemma: the Case of Macedonia
Abstract
In 2009, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia announced the Skopje 2014 Project, a project that envisioned an urban reconstruction of the city through a series of monuments of historical and religious figures, as well as various public buildings resembling neo-classical, or neo-baroque style. The Project was the culmination of a wider nation-building project initiated several years earlier that became known as “antiquisation” that sought to reconstruct and redefine Macedonian national identity, in which the uppermost importance was given to the figure of Alexander the Great. The nation-building project stressed a linear continuity of Macedonian national identity from antiquity to the present thereby emphasizing the nation’s unceasing existence and affirmation throughout the centuries. But what were the underlying causes that shaped the nation-building project? How have historical, political and other factors influenced the nation-building project in Macedonia? And why was ancient Macedonia chosen as the narrative around which the nation-building project could take place? These are the questions that the present article will attempt to answer. The aim of this article is to examine the complex interplay between security policy and nation-building, in the Macedonian context. More specifically, it will argue that the current nation-building project in Macedonia has been developed as a response to internal and external perceived identity threats. Namely, ever since declaring independence the Republic of Macedonia has been facing a double societal security dilemma – an external, stemming from the country’s immediate neighbors who constantly dispute the existence of a distinct Macedonian national identity, and an internal reflected in the constant challenges of the character of the State, by the country’s ethnic Albanian community. In response, the nation-building project sought to address these concerns.
References
Aggestam, Lisbeth, and Adrian Hyde-Price, eds. 2000 “Security and Identity in Europe: Exploring the New Agenda”. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Andreassen, Morten Dehli. 2011. If You Don’t Vote VMRO You’re Not Macedonian’: A Study of Macedonian Identity and National Discourse in Skopje. Ph.D. diss. University of Bergen.
Brown, Keith. 2003. “The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation.” Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Brubaker, Rogers. 1996. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brunnbauer, Ulf. 2002. “The Implementation of the Ohrid Agreement: Ethnic Macedonian Resentments.” Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 1: 1–24.
Brunnbauer, Ulf. 2004. “The Consequences of Identity Politics: Security Dilemmas in the Republic of Macedonia”, in Security in South Eastern Europe, edited by Aleksandar Fatic, 135–161. Belgrade: Security Policy Group, The Management Center.
Buzan, Barry, and Ole Wæver. 1997. “Slippery? Contradictory? Sociologically Untenable? The Copenhagen School Replies.” Review of International Studies 23 (2): 241–50.
Buzan, Barry. 2008 [1991]. People, States, and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era. 2nd ed. Colchester: European Consortium for Political Research Press.
Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. 1991. “The Preamble” Official Gazette No. 52.
Danforth, Loring M. 1995. “Transnational Influences on National Conflict: The Macedonian Question.” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 18: 19–34.
Dimova, Rozita. 2010. “Beyond the Naming Dispute.” Oslo: Eastbordnet Working Papers.
Dimova, Rozita. 2011. “Between the Internal and External ‘Other’: Deconstructing Macedonian National Identity” RRPP Western Balkans.
Dobrkovic, Nina. 2001. “Yugoslavia and Macedonia in the years 1991-6: from Brotherhood to Neighborhood.” In The New Macedonian Question, edited by James Pettifer, 79–95. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Dreyzov, Kyril. 1991. “Macedonian Identity: An Overview of Major Claims” in The New Macedonian Question, edited by James Pettifer, 47–59. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Elchinova, Magdalena. 2003. “Myth and Redefining Group Boundaries in Ethnic Discourse (on the Cases of Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia.” Sofia: New Bulgarian University.
Engstrom, Jenny. 2002. “The Power of Perception: The Impact of the Macedonian Question on Inter-Ethnic Relations in the Republic of Macedonia,” The Global Review of Ethnopolitics 1 (3): 3–17.
Fatic, Aleksandar. 2004. Security in Southeastern Europe. Beograd: The Management Centre.
Frckoski, Ljubomir. 2011. “Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Macedonia, Ten Years Later.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 2(3): 43–51.
Grozdanovska, Ljubica. 2010. “A New Ancient City” Transitions Online: 1–5. Hafner, Tanja. 2003. State-Making and Security in the Balkans: The Case Study of Macedonia. Master Thesis. Budapest: CEU, Budapest College.
Herz, John H. 1950. “Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma.” World Politics 2 (2): 157–80.
Holiday, Graham. 2005. “From Ethnic Privileging to Power Sharing: Ethnic Dominance and Democracy in Macedonia.” In The Fate of Ethnic Democracy in Post- Communist Europe, edited by Sammy Smooha and Priit Jarve, 139–166. Flensburg: ECMI.
Hosking, Geoffrey A., and George Schöpflin, eds. 1997. Myths and Nationhood. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.
Hutchinson, John, and Anthony D. Smith, eds. 1994 Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
International Crisis Group. 2001. Macedonia’s Name: Why the Dispute Matters and How to Resolve It. Skopje/Brussels. Policy Report 122: 1–32.
International Crisis Group. 2011. “Macedonia: Ten Years after the Conflict.” Skopje: Europe Report 212: 1–28.
Isaković, Zlatko. 2000. Identity and Security in Former Yugoslavia. Farnham: Ashgate.
Janev, Igor. 1999. “Legal Aspects of the Use of a Provisional Name for Macedonia in the United Nations System.” The American Journal of International Law 93 (1): 155–160.
Job, Brian L., ed. 1992. The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World States. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Kaufman, Stuart J. 1996. “An ‘international’ Theory of Inter-Ethnic War.” Review of International Studies 22 (2): 149–71.
Kolsto, Pal. 2005. Myths and Boundaries in South Eastern Europe. London: C. Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd.
Koneska, Cvete. 2011. “Between the Internal and External “Other”: Discourse Study of Macedonian National Identity.” Project Paper, Oxford: 1–23.
Kubiena, Michael. 2012. “Skopje 2014 – Musealizing the City, Re-Inventing History.” Western Balkans Policy Review 2 (1): 78–99.
Lebamoff, Mary Frances R., and Zoran Ilievski. 2008. The Ohrid Framwork Agreement in Macedonia: Neither Settlement nor Resolution of Ethnic Conflict? Bolzano: Country Specific Report, 1–38.
Lesnikovski, Ladislav. 2011. “Macedonia’s Ontological Insecurity and the Challenges of Stabilizing Inter-Ethnic Relations.” Eurasia Border Review 2 (1): 61–71.
Lomonosov, Matvey. 2012. National Myths in Interdependence: The Narratives of The Ancient Past Among Macedonians and Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia After 1991. Master Thesis. Budapest: CEU, Budapest College.
Mircev, Dimitar. 2001. “Engineering the Foreign Policy of a New Independent State: the Case of Macedonia.” In The New Macedonian Question, edited by James Pettifer, 201–225. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Özkirimli, Umut. 2005. Contemporary Debates on Nationalism: A Critical Engagement. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pettifer, James, ed. 2001. The New Macedonian Question. Palgrave Macmillan. 76
Posen, Barry R. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” Survival 35 (1): 27–47.
Rakipi, Albert. 2006 Weak States and Security. Ph.D. diss. Bilkent University. Roe, Paul. 2005. Ethnic Violence and the Societal Security Dilemma. Abingdon: Routledge.
Roe, Paul. 1999. “The Intrastate Security Dilemma: Ethnic Conflict as a ‘Tragedy’?”. Journal of Peace Research 36 (2): 183–202.
Roudometof, Victor. 2002. Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question. Westpoer: Praeger.
Schneckener, Ulrich. 2002 Developing and Applying EU Crisis Management: Test Case Macedonia. European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI).
Schöpflin, George. 2000. Nations, Identity, Power: The New Politics of Europe.
London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.
Shea, John. 2008. Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation. Jefferson: McFarland.
Slavevski, Stojan. 2013. On the Identity of the Contemporary Macedonian Nation. Skopje: George K. Marshall Institute.
Slavevski, Stojan. 2009. “Macedonian Strategic Culture and Institutional Choice: Integration or Isolation?” Western Balkan Security Observer 14: 39–55.
Smith, Anthony D. 1999. “Myths and Memories of the Nation.” Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Anthony D. 1991. National Identity. Reno: University of Nevada Press.
Smith, Anthony D. 2004. The Antiquity of Nations. Hobeken: Wiley.
Smooha, Sammy, and Jarve Priit. 2005. The Fate of Ethnic Democracy in Post Communist Europe. Flnsburg: ECMI.
Theiler, Tobias. 2003. “Societal Security and Social Psychology.” Review of International Studies 29 (2): 249–68.
Trifunovska, Snežana. 1994. Yugoslavia Through Documents: From Its Creation to Its Dissolution. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Vangeli, Anastas. 2009. Antiquity Musing: Reflections on the Greco-Macedonian Symbolic Contest Over the Narrative of the Ancient Past. Master Theses. Budapest: CEU, Budapest College.
Vangeli, Anastas. 2011. “Nation-Building Ancient Macedonian Style: The Origins and the Effects of the so-Called Antiquization in Macedonia.” Nationalities Papers 39 (1): 13–32.
Vankovska, Biljana. 2000. Civil-Military Relations in Macedonia. Copenhagen Peace Research Institute.
Verdery, Katherine. 1991. National Ideology Under Socialism: Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceausescu’s Romania. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Waever, Ole, Barry Buzan, and Morten Kelstrup. eds. 1993 Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Authors retain copyright of the published papers and grant to the publisher the non-exclusive right to publish the article, to be cited as its original publisher in case of reuse, and to distribute it in all forms and media.
The published articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). It is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform, and build upon it for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided and it is indicated if changes were made. / The published articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA). It is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform, and build upon it for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided, it is indicated if changes were made and the new work is distributed under the same license as the original.
Users are required to provide full bibliographic description of the original publication (authors, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages), as well as its DOI code. In electronic publishing, users are also required to link the content with both the original article published in Journal of Regional Security and the licence used.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted to deposit author’s pre-print / author’s post-print (accepted version) / publisher's version (PDF) of their work in an institutional repository, subject-based repository, author's personal website (including social networking sites, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.), and/or departmental website prior or during the submission process / at any time after the acceptance of the manuscript / at any time after publication.
Full bibliographic information (authors, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages) about the original publication must be provided and links must be made to the article's DOI and the license.