Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia pp 175-193 | Cite as
One State, Divided Society: The Albanians in Macedonia
Abstract
The territory of Macedonia has historically been a bone of contention between the different Slavic states and Greece. Today the existence of Macedonia as a political unit is still a point of contention, and of cultural and territorial ambitions of neighbor states. Thus, on the one hand Greece still claims its historical and cultural copyright for the name of Macedonia and for the heritage of Alexander the Great, while on the other hand Macedonian authorities keep stressing these dimensions as an important vector of the current Macedonian national identity. Furthermore, Bulgaria, or at least Bulgarian nationalist forces, and also some Macedonian political actors, consider that Macedonian cultural identity is a part of Bulgarian culture and history. Finally, the neighbor to the north, Serbia, has maintained formal relations with the young Macedonian state, yet still exerts pressure on Macedonia through non-recognition of the autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church by the Serbian Orthodox Church.1 The core of the Macedonian problem, and more widely of the Balkan one, is the territory. The latter is particularly visible in Macedonia. James Pettifer states that “[a]11 Balkan territorial disputes have their mythologies; that of the Macedonian question is that of the most bloody, complex and intractable of all, in a small peninsula already well burdened.”2
Keywords
Democratic Party Territorial Dispute Decentralization Process Ethnic Nation Religious ElementPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
- 1.Nadège Ragaru, Macedonia: Between Ohrid and Brussels, Paris: CERI — Sciences po, august 2007, p. 5.Google Scholar
- 2.James Pettifer, “The New Macedonian Question,” in James Pettifer (ed.), The New Macedonian Question, New York: Palgrave, 2001, p. 15.Google Scholar
- For further information about the Macedonian question see: Poulton, Hugh, Who Are the Macedonians?, C. Hurts & Co. Publishers, 2000, 226 p;Google Scholar
- Loring M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995, 279 p;Google Scholar
- Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804–1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, London: Granta Publications, 2000.Google Scholar
- 8.Hugh Poulton, “The Largest Nationality, II — Albanians Outside Kosovo,” in Hugh Poulton (ed.), The Balkans. Minorities and States in Conflict, London: Minority Rights Publications, 1993, p. 78.Google Scholar
- 14.Michel Roux, Les Albanais en Yougoslavie. Minorité nationale, territoire et développement, Paris: Fondation de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1992, p. 428.Google Scholar
- 16.Stéphane Pierre-Caps, La Multination. L’avenir des minorités en Europe centrale et orientale, Paris: Ed. Odile Jacob, 1995, p. 73.Google Scholar
- 19.I would like to highlight “Constitution in the Republic of Macedonia,” (1991), in Albert P. Blaustein and Gilbert H. Flank (ed.), Constitutions of the Countries of the World, New York: Oceana Publications, 1993.Google Scholar
- 39.Vangeli, Anastas, “Nation-Building Ancient Macedonian Style: The Origins of the So-Called Antiquization in Macedonia,” in Nationalities Papers, vol. 31, no. 1 (January 2011), p. 14. Concerning the redefinition of Macedonian identity recently launched, which is based on the idea of ancient Macedonia descendants at the expense of a Slav identity, see master’s thesis: Lura Polozhani, Identities Matter. Macedonia’s Identity Re-Construction and Its Relations with the European Union, Global Political Studies, Malmö University (IR, 61–90, Spring 2011).Google Scholar