MACEDONIA’S FOREIGN POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF EU INTEGRATION: Superficial changes or soul-deep transformation?
MACEDONIA’S FOREIGN POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF EU INTEGRATION: Superficial changes or soul-deep transformation?

Summary/Abstract: This paper enquires into the Europeanisation of Macedonia’s foreign policy. First, it examines the extent to which Macedonia’s foreign policy positions in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) OSCE have become convergent with the preferences of the European Union (EU). Then, it investigates specific changes in the organisation of Macedonia’s diplomatic services, which can be traced back to Macedonia’s interactions with the EU. These preliminary findings contradict the traditional view considering that states’ foreign policy is impervious to exogenous change. They suggest that Macedonia’s foreign policy identity is being re-constructed through its interactions with the EU. To establish this, the paper examines the mechanisms that best explain Macedonia’s behavioural and organisational changes. It argues that these are predominantly driven by soul-deep mechanisms of social, contextual learning; that simple, organismic learning also plays a role; and that the significance of superficial, mechanistic learning, i.e. mere compliance, is often overestimated.

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