DANGEROUS SENTIMENTS: NATIONALISM AND POLITICS IN MACEDONIA
DANGEROUS SENTIMENTS: NATIONALISM AND POLITICS IN MACEDONIA

Summary/Abstract: When shall we see the beginning of the end of the twenty years ‘name dispute’ between Macedonia and Greece, which left Macedonia in front of the NATO and EU doors, and which threatens to disintegrate the state along ethnic lines? When does the moment come when a chance may at least appear that “the nationalism of the powerless” will be considered reasonable when their goals are within reach? If international politics still functions on the principle expounded by the realists – that the strong do what they want while the weak do what they must, and having in mind the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece, the question arises: how much time it takes for the nationalism of those who believe that are powerful enough to get what they want (saying: “these are our rights and they are nonnegotiable”) to break down the nationalism of the “powerless”? The main thesis in this article is that whatever was achieved so far, as a result of the pressure on Macedonia to change its constitutional name in these twenty years comes down to the following: Macedonian nationalism increased and strengthened, the antagonism between the Macedonian and the Albanian political parties deepened, and the democratic process in the country was undermined. However, the results of the early elections in 2011, indicate that the Macedonian society slowly consolidates, under the so called ‘fatigue’ of ‘protracted conflict’ and prepares for a compromise.

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