Macedonia: A New Beginning?

Issue Date April 2018
Volume 29
Issue 2
Page Numbers 143-157
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

Beginning in 2015, Macedonia has suffered great instability and political intrigue due to a wiretapping scandal that exposed staggering state capture and authoritarian practices by the then-ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. This article puts current events in the broader historical context of Macedonia’s postcommunist experience. It argues that Macedonia’s political life has revolved around two basic questions: Who are the Macedonians, and to whom does Macedonia belong? Both within and beyond the country’s borders, these questions are deeply contested, and this has led to a dominance of identity politics at the expense of good governance and democratic consolidation.

About the Author

Besir Ceka is assistant professor of political science at Davidson College. From September 2013 to August 2014, he was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

View all work by Besir Ceka