The Evolution of North Macedonian Consociational System
https://doi.org/10.46272/2221-3279-2022-3-13-111-129
Abstract
Comparative politics has debated the effectiveness of the two basic models of conflict management, namely consociational and integrative. According to a widespread opinion, consociational mechanisms preserve inter-ethnic tensions and hinder the building of a state identity based on citizenship. The article focuses on North Macedonia, where consociational mechanisms have been applied since the 2001 armed clashes to mitigate the deep contradictions between the Macedonian majority and the Albanian minority. Applying comparative analysis and geographical method, the study attempts to answer the question of where the consociational polity under study is evolving and whether it is possible to build a state identity based on citizenship rather than ethnicity. The analysis of parliamentary elections in North Macedonia in 2002-2020 shows that until 2016 the popularity of radical Albanian parties declined, though then dramatically increased, and up to the present two centripetal tendencies can be seen, which are an increase in ethnic minority support for national parties and more active cooperation between large and small parties before the elections.
About the Author
A. V. Pavlova
MGIMO University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anastasia V. Pavlova – Analyst, Institute for International Studies, MGIMO University
76 Prospect Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119454
References
1. Bieber F. (2020) Patterns of Authoritarianism. In: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the Western Balkans. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 31–88. DOI: 10.1007/9783-030-22149-2_3.
2. Brubaker R. (1994) Nationhood and the national question in the Soviet Union and postSoviet Eurasia: An institutionalist account. Theory and Society 23(1): 47–78. DOI: 10.1007/ BF00993673.
3. Horowitz D.L. (2014) Ethnic Power Sharing: Three Big Problems. Journal of Democracy 25(2): 5–20. DOI: 10.1353/jod.2014.0020.
4. Lijphart A. (1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration. Yale University Press. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1dszvhq (accessed 22 July 2022).
5. Linz J.J. and Stepan A.C. (1996) Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
6. O’Leary B. (2005) Debating Consociational Politics: Normative and Explanatory Arguments 1. In: Noel S (ed.) From Power Sharing to Democracy. McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 3–43. DOI: 10.1515/9780773573109-002.
7. Piacentini A.M. (2019) State Ownership and “State-Sharing”: The Role of Collective Identities and the Sociopolitical Cleavage between Ethnic Macedonians and Ethnic Albanians in the Republic of North Macedonia. Nationalities Papers 47(3): 461–476. DOI: 10.1017/nps.2018.8.
8. Prikolota M. and Krylov I. (2020) The Accession of Macedonia to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a Multi-Level Game. International Organisations Research Journal 15(1): 177–189. DOI: 10.17323/1996-7845-2020-01-08.
9. Reilly B. (2006) Political Engineering and Party Politics in Conflict-Prone Societies. Democratization 13(5): 811–827. DOI: 10.1080/13510340601010719.
10. Rokkan S. and Urwin D.W. (eds) (1982) The Politics of Territorial Identity: Studies in European Regionalism. London ; Beverly Hills: SAGE Publications.
11. Sandole D.J.D. (1999) Simulated Violent Conflict and War: Implications for Ethnic Conflict in Post–Cold War Europe. Simulation & Gaming 30(4): 506–522. DOI: 10.1177/104687819903000410.
12. Stepan A. (2008) Comparative Theory and Political Practice: Do We Need a ‘StateNation’ Model as Well as a ‘Nation-State’ Model? Government and Opposition 43(1): 1–25. DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00241.x.
13. Cuadernos Iberoamericanos (2022) The short life of the Minsk agreements: why diplomacy failed? 10(4): 77–85. DOI: 10.46272/2409-3416-2022-10-4-77-85.
14. Wimmer A. (2013) Waves of War: Nationalism, State Formation, and Ethnic Exclusion in the Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Golovin D.O. and Sklyarov S.A. (2020) Novyi makedonskii vopros: sovremennyi etap razvitiia [The New Macedonian Question: the Current Stage of Development]. Mezhdunarodnaia analitika [Journal of International Analytics] 11(2): 68–90. DOI: 10.46272/2587-8476-202011-2-68-90. (In Russian).
16. Kudryashova I. and Kozintsev A. (2021) Institutsional’nye resheniia etnokonfessional’nykh konfliktov na blizhnem vostoke v kontekste imperskogo opyta [Institutional solutions for sectarian conflicts in the Middle East in the context of imperial legacy]. Politicheskaia nauka [Political Science] (2): 140–164. DOI: 10.31249/poln/2021.02.05. (In Russian).
17. Meleshkina E. and Kudryashova I. (2015) Setsessii na postimperskom prostranstve: Kosovo, Abkhaziia, Iuzhnaia Osetiia [Secessions in the post-imperial space: Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia]. Aktual’nye problemy Evropy [Current problems of Europe] (1): 56–80. (In Russian).
18. Meleshkina E. and Kudryashova I. (2022) Posle imperii: mozhno li perekovat’ mechi na orala? [After empires: beating swords into ploughshares]. Politicheskaia nauka [Political Science] (1): 14–51. DOI: 10.31249/poln/2022.01.01. (In Russian).
19. Ponomareva E.G. (2010) Respublika Makedoniia: nastuplenie albanskogo men’shinstva [Republic of Macedonia: offensive of the Albanian minority]. Politicheskaia nauka [Political Science] (1): 138–172. (In Russian).
20. Ponomareva E.G. (2012) Sekrety «tsvetnykh revoliutsii»: Sovremennye tekhnologii smeny politicheskikh rezhimov [Secrets of the «color revolutions»: Modern technologies of changing political regimes]. Svobodnaia mysl’ [Free Thought] (3/4): 43-59. (In Russian).
21. Salavatova A. (2021) Evropeiskaia integratsiia kak faktor makedonskoi natsional’noi identichnosti [European Integration as a Determinant Factor of Macedonian National Identity]. Sovremennaia Evropa [Contemporary Europe] 101(1): 209–218. DOI: 10.15211/ soveurope12021209218. (In Russian).
22. Kharitonova O.G. (2021) Teoriia i praktika konsotsionalizma v blizhnevostochnom kontekste: novye grani staroi problemy [The Theory and Practice of Consociationalism in the Middle Eastern Context: New Dimensions of an Old Problem]. Iuzhno-rossiiskii zhurnal sotsial’nykh nauk [South Russian Journal of Social Sciences] 22(4): 61–80. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-224-61-80. (In Russian).
Review
For citations:
Pavlova A.V. The Evolution of North Macedonian Consociational System. Comparative Politics Russia. 2022;13(3):111-129. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.46272/2221-3279-2022-3-13-111-129
Views:
198
Email this article 
