Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Macedonian identity »

The senseless name dispute and the renaming of the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, which was perceived by the Western countries as a «technical obstacle» to the country's NATO and EU accession, was in fact a part of the Macedonian southern neighbor’s long-term plan to erase the Macedonian identity by violating the Macedonian people's right to national self-determination. Since, any change in the name of a country automatically entailed consequences for the national and cultural identity of the Macedonians - the titular people of the country. Russian diplomacy closely followed the events in the country and thoroughly knew the essence of the political crisis that began in 2015 which eventually ended with the renaming of the country against the will of the Macedonian people. The Russian decision to retreat from the intention to challenge the Prespa agreement in the UN Security Council as contradictory to the international law and violating Macedonian 1991 Constitution questioned the role of the Russian diplomacy in upholding the principles and norms of the rule of international law in the world. The subsequent recognition of Macedonia’s new name by Russia forced many in the Republic of Macedonia to include Russia, an indisputable fighter for justice in a multipolar world, in the list of countries involved in the national “depersonalization” of Macedonia, which appeared on the political map of Europe as a result of the anti-fascist liberation movement of the Macedonian people.

In this article, Vasiliki P. Neofotistos analyzes the reappropriation of the term Šiptar, a derogatory Macedonian term for Albanians, by male members of the Albanian community in the Republic of Macedonia. Neofotistos shows how the reappropriation of the ethnic slur reflects constellations of social value, that is to say, larger systems of meaning and action concerning who and what is valued in life, that have emerged with Macedonian independence. Albanian men tap into familiar divisions found in the larger Macedonian society and create meaningful forms of collectivity as they deal with rapid social, economic, and political change in the context of Macedonia's postsocialist transformation of social practices and ideals. This case study of Macedonia sheds light on the dynamics of social relations within socially marginalized groups.

In the early 1990s, the Greek diaspora experienced an exceptional period of political mobilization, sparked by the international community’s recognition of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia as an independent state. While there is little contestation that Macedonia exists as a geographic area, who can claim Macedonian history and ethnic identity is much more problematic. The struggle to claim Macedonian identity has been fought between groups located in Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and the Greek and Macedonian diasporas, each group proclaiming themselves the true Macedonians. In the diaspora, this struggle has manifested itself through newspaper editorials, letter-writing campaigns, lobbying efforts, festivals, and political rallies.

The Process of Stabilization of the Macedonian Nation in a Complex Geopolitical SituationThe article considers two main stages of the development of national identity of the Macedonians which were the basis for their own independent state. The first stage, which took place at the turn of the twentieth century, was connected with activities of Macedonian intellectuals and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. However, in the second stage – which occurred in the second half of the twentieth century (when Macedonia was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) – the authorities of the Yugoslavian federation paradoxically played an important role as they maintained a sense of national autonomy among the people of Macedonia. Following the Macedonian declaration of independence in November 1991, the mood of instability developed in the state. This mood resulted mainly from the claims of the neighbouring countries and the demands of the Albanian minority. The complex geopolitical situation of independent Macedonia had a stimulating influence on the consolidation of national identity of the Macedonians and contributed to increasing the importance of national factions in the state.

The first aim of this paper is to present the after W.W.II temptation of the Macedonian authors to identify national elements that is Macedonian elements in houses build in Macedonia. After identifying them, the same elements (now national) will be used to declare the national heritage in Macedonian houses. Secondly, we would like to compare the same elements found as Macedonian with other places, like Turkey (involving Bursa, Istanbul and other cities), to see if they really are different as those from houses in Turkey, or there is a similarity between them.

In line with the theories of variability, fluctuation and instability of ethno-cultural identities, this paper deals with some sensitive issues surrounding the creation of new (sub-ethnic and sub-cultural) microidentities within one nation, in this case within the Macedonian nation. The research focuses on the initiative for declaring one part of the Macedonian nation, the Macedonians of Islamic religion, to be a separate ethnic group in 2011. It analyses the regional and historical background from which this initiative originated, mostly as an echo of the multicultural strategies and policies in the European and international context. It shows how the unstable politics destabilized the already fragile and fluctuating identity of this group toward an identity of resistance or even heresy, inspite of having preserved their primary Slavic linguistic and cultural identity. The paper argues that the Macedonians of Islamic religion are a part of the Macedonian social, cultural and religious reality and should therefore be recognized as a specific cultural-religious community within the Macedonian national entity. This issue is seen as very important in the present context, since the Macedonian identity is preasured and relativized itself. The paper underlines that the Macedonian national identity is inclusive, layered, more general and complex than its religious factor. Therefore this researcher proposes inclusive state policies for all Macedonians regardless of religious affiliation, inclusive civilizational strategies with inter-connective spiritual values (inter-religious palimpsests and symbiosis) and inclusive state secular strategies as protection against religious radicalisms, atavisms and conflicts.

The Contuinity and Discontinuity. The Question of Territorialism and Double Identity from the Perspective of 20th Century MacedoniaThe sense of territorial identity gains force whenever political means of solving the Macedonian Question, a repugnant legacy of the Eastern issue, become scarce. This attitude is reflected in the articles published by the representatives of the Macedonian diaspora in journals of its different centres. Due to space constraints I decided to present only (and at least) the views of Krste Misirkov, a very complex figure indeed, who in contemporary Macedonia belongs to the undisputable national pantheon. His opinions on the Macedonian Question were far from explicit and his statements delivered at different stages of his life do not fit into a cohesive whole as the national purists would want it. However, it is difficult to imagine a better mirror for “Macedonian matters” in the 20th century and a more comprehensive picture of the twisted paths that the Macedonian Slavs took to reach the concept of ‘Macedonian’ understood as an ethnos, not only in its territorial aspect.A bond with the territory has never disappeared from Macedonian self-perception. Only the constant presence of territorial identity explains the assimilation of the ancient heritage, which is in fact heritage of a territory, into the Macedonian national canon. It is further confirmed by the most recent Macedonian history textbooks for high school students where the ancient tradition is treated as a part of their own heritage. While the bond with the territory is still an integral part of the Macedonian elite’s consciousness, the question of double identity remains less obvious. In Misirkov’s time double identity, expressed through various ethnic configurations, on the one hand shaped Macedonian self-identity and on the other proved the distinctiveness of a ‘Macedonian’ at that time (i.e. in the first half of the 20th century) from a ‘Serb’ in Serbia proper and a ‘Bulgarian’ in Bulgaria proper, thus creating favourable conditions for the emergence of separatist understanding of Macedonianness, allowing even non-Slavs to be Macedonians. Macedonianness began to be founded on Slavicness relatively late and this dependence was propagated quite naturally mainly by Slavophile circles (the circle of Nace Dimov) and by the communists in the 1920’s and 1930’s. However, in the first half of the 20th century there still existed alternatives, such as, for instance, the above-described project of Krste Misirkov. The most evident connection between the term ‘Macedonian’ and Slavicness crystallised in Tito’s post-war Macedonia, de facto undermining the notion of double identity in the sense in which it had functioned in the first half of the 20th century.Ciągłość i jej brak. Kwestia terytorializmu i podwójnej tożsamości z perspektywy macedońskiejPoczucie tożsamości terytorialnej odzywa się ze szczególną siłą w sytuacjach, kiedy wyczerpują się polityczne możliwości rozwiązania problemu macedońskiego, jako niedobrego spadku po kwestii wschodniej. Potwierdzają to wypowiedzi przedstawicieli macedońskiej diaspory publikowane na łamach czasopism, wychodzących w różnych miejscach jej skupisk. Zdecydowałam się na przedstawienie jedynie (i aż) poglądów Krste Misirkova, należącego w dzisiejszej Macedonii do niekwestionowanego panteonu narodowego, w istocie postaci wielce skomplikowanej. Jego poglądy w kwestii macedońskiej były dalekie od jednoznaczności, a wypowiedzi wygłaszane na różnych etapach życia nie układają się w całość, jakiej chcieliby narodowi puryści, natomiast trudno sobie wyobrazić lepsze zwierciadło „spraw macedońskich” w XX wieku i pełniejszy obraz krętych dróg, jakimi macedońscy Słowianie dochodzili do pojęcia „Macedończyk” rozumianego jako éthnie, a nie tylko terytorialnie.Więź z terytorium nigdy nie zniknęła z macedońskiego myślenia o sobie samych. Jedynie stałą obecnością tożsamości terytorialnej można wytłumaczyć asymilację dziedzictwa antycznego, czyli faktycznie dziedzictwa terytorium, do macedońskiego kanonu narodowego. Potwierdzają to najnowsze macedońskie podręczniki do nauki historii dla szkół średnich, w których tradycja antyczna jest traktowana jako część tradycji własnej. O ile jednak więź z terytorium jest nadal integralną częścią świadomości macedońskich elit, to zupełnie inaczej wygląda kwestia podwójnej tożsamości. W czasach Misirkova podwójna tożsamość, wyrażająca się poprzez różne etniczne konfiguracje, z jednej strony kształtowała macedońską tożsamość własną, z drugiej zaś to dzięki niej pojęcie „Macedończyk” w tym czasie (tzn. w pierwszej połowie wieku XX) potwierdzało swoją odrębność od Serba z Serbii właściwej i od Bułgara z Bułgarii właściwej i tym samym sprzyjało kształtowaniu się separatystycznego rozumienia macedońskości. Ten sposób widzenia umożliwiał bycie Macedończykiem także nie-Słowianom. Oparcie pojęcia macedońskości o słowiańskość nastąpiło stosunkowo późno i było propagowane w sposób naturalny głównie przez środowiska słowianofilskie (petersburski krąg Nace Dimova), ale w latach dwudziestych i trzydziestych XX w. także przez środowiska komunistyczne. Jednak w pierwszej połowie XX wieku miało wciąż alternatywne propozycje, jak chociażby omówiony przeze mnie projekt K. Misirkova. Najwyrazistsze powiązanie pojęcia „Macedończyk” ze słowiańskością nastąpiło w powojennej Macedonii czasów Josipa Broz Tity i w istocie podważyło pojęcie podwójnej tożsamości, w tym sensie w jakim funkcjonowała ona w okresie wcześniejszym, tzn. w pierwszej połowie wieku XX.

The main purpose of the article is to present how the Greek- -Macedonian naming dispute influenced the problem of implementation the international identity of Macedonia. Despite the initial problems of the government in Skopje related to determining their international identity, Macedonians managed to define the principles regarding the identification of a new state on the international stage. As a small country with limited attributes to shape its international position, Macedonia has basically been determined to seek guarantees for its existence and security in stable and predictable European international structures such as NATO and the European Union. The main obstacle for Macedonians on the road to Euro-Atlantic structures was the veto of Greece, a member of these organizations, resulting from Athens’ refusal to accept the name the Republic of Macedonia. The Prespa Agreement of 2018 gave a new impetus to the realization of the international identity of North Macedonia.

In this article I analyze the term “Macedonian(s)” based on the discourse of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (1893–1908) from the aspect of the internal understanding of the term as a supra-local and supra-church identity. Another matter for analysis in this article is that of the stereotypes in the interpretation of Macedonian historical processes inherited from the nineteenth century, still present in some contemporary historiographies. Hence, the article makes an attempt to bring down the stereotype about the existence of some unique Macedonian ethnic phenomenon known as the “Macedonian salad.” This article also deals with the significance of the geopolitical position of Ottoman Macedonia within the empire. More specifically, the emphasis is placed on the change of its position after the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1881). Namely, for the first time since the Ottoman conquests in the Middle Ages, Macedonia's position within the empire changed from being a central to a peripheral Ottoman province, with all the advantages and disadvantages that this change brought about. This aspect of Macedonian historical reality is often neglected in the historiography.

On 17.6.2018, in the village of Nivitsi on the Greek coast of Prespa Lake, the heads of diplomacy of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kodzias, signed the "Final Agreement for Disputes described in Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council to cease the validity of the 1995 Interim Accord and to establish a strategic partnership between the parties."According to the Agreement, the new name the Republic of Macedonia is "Republic of North Macedonia". It will be used erga omnes, that is, at every opportunity both in the country and abroad. The terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" in relation to the Republic of North Macedonia denote its territory, language, people and their characteristics, with their own history, culture, and heritage. The official language of the country is Macedonian, while citizenship is "Macedonian / Citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia". The agreement was also signed by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz. This agreement, also known in the public, as the Prespa Treaty, ended the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece.Following the ratification of the Agreement by the parliaments of the two countries, it commenced its implementation. In the procedure for its implementation, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia adopted four amendments at its session on 11 January 2019: amending the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia in the Republic of North Macedonia, amending the preamble to the Constitution of the Republic, amending Article 3 and replacement of Article 49 of the Constitution (Amendments XXXIII to XXXXVI).The signing of the Agreement divided the Macedonian public. Some (the majority) supported and still support the Agreement, some strongly opposed it. The opposition has regularly been followed by criticism on the Agreement. The criticisms often contained two theses: the first of them was that by the implementation of the Agreement the identity of the Macedonian people would be lost, and the second, always related to the first, that the identity of the Macedonian state would be lost. In this paper we have made an effort to prove the inaccuracy of those theses by applying the method of content analysis based on the principles of formal logic and the dialectical method.

The identities of people residing in the vicinity of national borders are complex and affected by many factors, especially by narratives imposed by national governments through the national education system. The European Union, as a supranational organization, also provides narratives that expose individuals to globalized, versus national, ideals. This ethnographic case study asks how individuals living along the Macedonian-Bulgarian border, sharing strong ethnic and cultural ties, view their regional, national and European identities. The study finds that individuals have developed a strong attachment to their national identity. Many Bulgarians hold a strong vision based on historic claims to the Bulgarian Kingdom. Many Bulgarians see Macedonian as having been carved out of the ancient territory and therefore refer to the people as Bulgarians, thus denying their right to self-identify. Macedonians, on the other hand, choose not to refer to the 'other' as part of their own population, but rather as neighbors. They view their national identity is based on the idea of the country being 'attacked' by its neighbors and having to struggle for recognition in the world. The E.U. does not currently offer an alternative, as individuals have little attachment to their European identity related to E.U. membership.<br>Ph. D.

In 1991, a diplomatic controversy arose between Greece and the newly independent Republic of Macedonia, regarding naming, minority rights and the use of historical symbols. The claims of the new state to the name Macedonia and the historical heritage associated with it were perceived as a threat against Greek national identity and history itself. Within months, the so-called Macedonian question came to dominate the Greek domestic and foreign policy agenda. In Greek public debate, the conflict blended with concerns about the nation’s past, present and future, which played into the challenges brought about by the end of the Cold War. The Macedonian conflict can thus be understood as symptomatic of a crisis in Greek historical culture, as well as a catalyst for broader concerns about the role of history in contemporary society. This study explores the contexts in which the conflict evolved and how history was perceived, narrated and used by institutions, communities and individuals who sought to influence public opinion and policy-makers. The theoretical point of departure is the concept of historical culture, defined as the totality of discourses through which a society makes sense of itself, the present and the future through the interpretation of the past. In the study of historical culture, the notions of narratives and uses of history have been employed, with the notion of boundary-work as a supplementing analytical tool. The material of the study is primarily drawn from mainstream press, but also includes historiography. The study shows how the Macedonian controversy was intertwined with the identity- and memory-political demands of substate actors. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of a narrative on genocide among Greeks of Pontian origins. This happened in an age when traditional notions of national pride were being challenged by transnational history-cultural concerns about human rights and the notion of national guilt. The study also sheds light on how academic historians dealt with issues brought about by demands for politically committed scholarship, objectivity, legitimacy and the need to adjust in a transnational setting.<br>Denna studie har sin utgångspunkt i de utmaningar som det grekiska samhället och nationalstaten stod inför vid kalla krigets slut. I fokus står den diplomatiska konflikten mellan Grekland och republiken Makedonien, gällande den senare partens namn och bruk av historiskt laddade symboler samt minoritetsrättigheter. Denna makedonska konflikt som seglade upp i samband med Jugoslaviens sammanbrott kom att dominera den in- och utrikespolitiska dagordningen i Grekland under det tidiga 1990-talet, och förde tidvis in landet på kollisionskurs med dess västeuropeiska och amerikanska partners. Avhandlingens syfte har bestått i att spåra de sammanhang som denna konflikt växte fram i. Jag hävdar att den makedonska konflikten inte endast skall förstås som en kris i grekisk inrikespolitik, eller i landets relationer med omvärlden, utan fastmer som en kris i den grekiska historiekulturen. I det offentliga samtalet i Grekland smälte konflikten samman med en oro gällande nationens förflutna, nutid och framtid. Den diplomatiska fejden med den nya grannstaten i norr uppmärksammades av en bred allmänhet och åtföljdes av en diskurs som utmålade den egna nationens historia och arv som hotade. Studiet av denna diskurs, eller rättare sagt diskurser, om historia är ett viktigt mål i denna avhandling, eftersom det belyser uppfattningar om det förflutna jämte farhågor rörande nuet och nationens framtid, uppfattningar och farhågor som ytterst präglade den politiska krisen. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien återfinns i begreppet historiekultur. Med detta avses de samtliga diskurser genom vilka ett samhälle begripliggör sig självt, nuet och framtiden genom att tolka det förflutna. Sålunda definierad skall historiekultur förstås som både struktur och process. Det innebär att historiekulturen är både ramverket av kunskap, attityder och värderingar som ger den enskilde mening och sammanhang, och samhällen deras sammanhållning, och själva handlingen genom vilka ovansagda skapas och förmedlas. Som redskap för att studera historiekultur har begreppen berättelser och historiebruk använts. Eftersom studien särskilt uppmärksammar fackhistorikers roll i konflikten – viktiga i egenskap av aktörer som skapar och sprider den kunskap och de värderingar som utgör historiekultur – har även ett vetenskapssociologiskt perspektiv infogats. Offentliga kontroverser rörande det förflutna inbegriper kamp om trovärdigheten i vissa tolkningar liksom hos dem som framför dem. Som kompletterande analysredskap brukas begreppet gränsdragning (boundary-work), utifrån uppfattningen att vetenskapen bör studeras i det sociala sammanhang i vilket den bibringas mening och auktoritet. Historiekultur studeras genom dess lämningar. I föreliggande avhandling utgörs källmaterialet främst av artiklar i grekisk dagspress, men även historieskrivning (akademisk såväl som icke-akademisk) i bokform, vetenskapliga tidskrifter och andra relevanta trycksaker där historia debatteras, berättas, sätts in i sammanhang och brukas, har studerats. Materialet täcker ingalunda grekisk historiekultur i hela dess vidd men utgör likväl ett representativt urval av de arenor där såväl allmänhet som specialister mötte diskurser och debatter om det förflutna. 324 Studien har kartlagt de sätt på vilka historia brukades med särskilt avseende på de intressen som kan skönjas däri. Själva upplevelsen av kris tog sig uttryck i ett existentiellt historiebruk, kopplats till ett sökande efter rötter och kontinuitet som närdes av fruktan för krig, rotlöshet och kulturell minnesförlust. Det upplevda yttre hotet mot Grekland beskrevs ofta i termer av en hotande utmaning gentemot den nationella identiteten och nationens överlevnad, men också som en möjlighet att återupprätta en samlande nationell berättelse. Samtidigt brukades historia med både kommersiella och politiska mål i sikte, eftersom det nationella förflutna sågs som en moralisk, politisk och ekonomisk tillgång. Ett framträdande drag i debatten var ett politiskt historiebruk som syftade till att utmana en upplevd vänsterhegemoni som utmålades som ett hinder för nationell enighet och främjandet av Greklands utrikespolitiska målsättningar i utlandet. Men historia kunde även brukas politiskt för att visa på nationalismens avarter. Särskild uppmärksamhet har ägnats åt det moraliska historiebruket. Detta är ett bruk som utmanar vad som utpekas som förhärskande föreställningar och därför är ett medel för historiekulturens förändring. Historieproducenter längs med den politiska skalan tenderade att utforma sina berättelser i kritisk och moralistisk anda, även om syftet ofta var att bevara en traditionell förståelse av nationell historia och identitet. Emellertid är det berättelser som utmanar den nationella tolkningsramen som undersökts särskilt noggrant. Det moraliska historiebruket hänger samman med hur den makedonska frågan nyttjades till att främja minnespolitiska krav. I detta sammanhang har särskild uppmärksamhet riktats mot den slaviskmakedonska minoritetsaktivismen som prisade etnisk särart och anklagade den grekiska staten för diskriminering. Dess historiebruk underblåste föreställningar om ett överhängande hot mot den grekiska nationalstaten och tilltalade som sådant också grupperingar inom den grekiska vänstern, som i den slaviskmakedonska kritiska berättelsen såg ett medel till förändring av rådande samhällsordning och den nationella historiekulturen, genom att blottlägga statens ”ideologiska historiebruk”. En grupp som brukade historien moraliskt och som i viss utsträckning även länkade sin minnespolitiska dagordning till den makedonska frågan återfanns bland de pontiska grekerna. Studien har belyst hur en pontisk identitet knuten till en berättelse om folkmord i Turkiet och en historia av diskriminering i Grekland växte fram i senare delen av 1980-talet och erkändes av staten 1994. Medan kapitel 3 utforskar det lokala historiekulturella landskapet i det grekiska Makedonien, belyser kapitel 4 även de förbindelser som pontiska aktivister sökte upprätta med historiska berättelser utanför den nationella historiens ramverk, huvudsakligen det armeniska folkmordet och förintelsen. Förhållandet mellan politik och historia, mellan kritiska berättelser som utmanade förhärskande uppfattningar i nationella frågor och dem som försvarade den förda politikens legitimitet och den officiella historieskrivningen, står i fokus för kapitel 5. Den makedonska konflikten medförde kolliderande anspråk på expertis inom vetenskapssamhället – mellan ämnesdiscipliner och enskilda forskare – såväl som mellan fackmän och lekmän, vilket tog sig uttryck i retoriska 325 uteslutningsmekanismer. För somliga bar den allmänna betoningen av nationell historia ett löfte med sig om finansiering och förstärkt prestige åt dem som hade denna inriktning. Andra uppfattade den makedonska krisen och historieskrivning med nationella och politiska förtecken som ett direkt hot mot den fria forskningen och Greklands överlevnad som ett demokratiskt samhälle. Den akademiska autonomin som föreföll hotad skyddades genom att insistera på en skiljelinje mellan historia som vetenskap respektive som ”ideologiskt bruk” för politiska ändamål. Detta försök att återupprätta konsensus inom vetenskapssamhället genom att vädja till professionens etiska principer blev också en utväg för historiker som med tiden sökte distansera sig från en förd politik som uppfattades som skamfilad och nationalistisk. Analysen har visat på de sammanhang i vilka den makedonska krisen växte fram och hur farhågorna för och bruket av historia kan förstås. Den första av dessa kontexter är den inrikespolitiska, närmare bestämt det grekiska samhällets demokratisering efter 1974. I det nya pluralistiska klimatet införlivades delar av den tidigare förföljda vänsterns kritiska berättelse om det nära förflutna i statens historieskrivning. Övergången från ett auktoritärt samhälle och historiekultur till en ökad öppenhet banade även väg för missnöjda gruppers identitetspolitik (slaviska makedoner, pontiska och andra anatoliska greker), grupper vars historiebruk naggade de gamla nationella och ideologiska stora berättelserna i kanten. Vid tiden för kalla krigets slut 1989 hade en allmänt spridd besvikelse gentemot de politiska ideologierna, i synnerhet socialismen, medfört en motreaktion till förmån för en mer traditionell nationalism. Det andra betydelsefulla sammanhanget återfinns i den europeiska integrationen som följde på Greklands EG-inträde 1981. Denna medförde inte endast hopp om ekonomisk vinning utan även behovet att bearbeta förlusten av nationellt självbestämmande och traditionella former av självförståelse. Grekland stod inför uppgiften att finna sin plats i det nya Europa, samtidigt som landet måste hantera den nya verklighet som 1990-talets krig på Balkan medförde. Särskilt historiker betonade att denna process gjorde det nödvändigt att europeisera nationens värderingar och uppfattningar kring historia, en uppgift som försvårades av Greklands hållning i den makedonska frågan och det sätt på vilket man slog vakt om ”historiska rättigheter”. Även aktivister som, huvudsakligen i den grekiska diasporan, var sysselsatta med att marknadsföra denna fråga pekade på behovet av att modernisera aspekter av den nationella historiekulturen i en tid av europeiskt enande och konvergerande historieutbildningar. Det som ovan beskrivits har ett nära samband med det tredje stora sammanhanget, som även det är av transnationell art. Den nationella historiekulturen är inte avskild från omvärlden; föreställningar om det förflutna rör sig över nationella gränser. På global nivå sammanföll den makedonska konflikten med de s.k. history wars, historiekrig som rasade vid samma tid runtom i världen. Dessa återspeglar i sin tur urholkandet av de stora nationella och ideologiska berättelserna i västerländska samhällen, de identitets- och minnespolitiska kraven hos under- och ickestatliga aktörer, de mänskliga rättigheternas paradigm och 326 beklagandets politik (the politics of regret), som anammar nationell skuld som ny princip för politisk legitimitet. Trenden inom transnationell historiekultur mot en mer universell moral, symboliserad av den ”amerikaniserade” (och ”europeiserade”) förintelsens moral innebar en ytterligare utmaning mot de nationella historiekulturerna. Den pontiska folkmordsberättelsen (och dess nationaliserade förlängning) analyseras som svarande till kravet på en ”amerikanisering” av grekisk historiekultur. I detta sammanhang lyfts den grekiska diasporans roll fram, inte endast som instrumentell i utformningen av Greklands utrikespolitiska dagordning, men även i egenskap av förmedlare av historiekulturella angelägenheter och behovet av anpassning till transnationell omgivning. Konsekvenser av denna ”amerikaniserade” folkmordsberättelse diskuteras. Ett fjärde sammanhang, med en både nationell och transnationell dimension, är det akademiska, inom vilket forskare debatter och formar historiens representation. Identitetspolitikens ankomst och den makedonska konflikten stod även i samband med den objektivistiska historieskrivningens legitimitetskris och den postmoderna utmaningen. Urholkningen av staters bärande historieberättelse och tolkningsföreträde motsvarades i viss utsträckning av ett undergrävt förtroende för den traditionella historieskrivningens trovärdighet och auktoritet. Denna urholkning kunde tolkas som ett hot mot själva historievetenskapen och professionen. Ett annat sätt att bemöta detta hot var att betrakta såväl det som den makedonska krisen som en uppfordran till perspektivskifte inom forskning och historieskrivning. Samspelet mellan politik och historia, mellan förståelsen av svunna realiteter, nutida bekymmer och förväntningar inför framtiden formade sålunda den politiska krisen och banade väg för den grekiska historiekulturens förändring.

La politique d’élargissement de l’Union européenne vis-à-vis des pays de l’Europe de l’Est suscite l’intérêt des pays membres envers ces nouveaux adhérents potentiels. Le rôle des médias est particulièrement important dans le processus de transition de ces sociétés. La nécessité d’une démocratisation de l’information et des politiques de communication dans ce nouveau contexte est une des questions les plus étudiées, car la liberté des médias montre le degré de démocratie. Alors qu’autrefois, l’analyse des effets des médias était privilégiée, on scrute aujourd’hui les fondements d’une communication démocratique en s’interrogeant sur la nouvelle configuration du jeu politique sous l’emprise des médias ; sur l’élargissement de l’espace public du fait de l’essor de l’information et de la communication ; sur le statut culturel des médias ; sur l’usage des TIC. La diversité des approches et le foisonnement des angles d’étude peuvent donner l’impression d’un savoir en mosaïque qui souligne la complexité des relations entre les producteurs et les récepteurs de l’information. Ce travail complexe, qui touche à tous les éléments de l’information macédonienne, propose aux lecteurs francophones l’accès à un sujet méconnu. Les principaux objectifs de la présente étude consistent d'une part en la présentation du cadre complet de la sphère médiatique macédonienne et d'autre part en l’analyse des principales questions en lien avec les enjeux politiques et sociaux. L’une des questions centrales de cette étude est ainsi de mettre en lumière les relations complexes qui s’effectuent à travers les médias entre les politiques et les différentes communautés. Toutes ces questions forment le rayonnement médiatique d’un pays, pilier de son existence culturelle, élément essentiel de sa puissance politique et nationale<br>The enlargement policy of the European Union concerning the countries of Eastern Europe has triggered considerable interest from the member states for these potential new adherents. The role of media is particularly important in the transition process of these countries. The need for democratization of information and communication policies in this new context is one of the most analyzed issues since media freedom shows the degree of democracy. Despite the fact that in the past it was proven that the analysis of the media effect was privileged, today the foundations of the democratic communication are studied by questioning the new configuration of the political set under the influence of the media, as well as the expansion of the public space in terms of the development of information and communication. In addition, the cultural status of the media is also being inspected along with the use of ICT. The diversity of approaches and the proliferation of angles of study can give the impression of a mosaic knowledge that emphasizes the complexity of the relations between producers and receivers of information. This complex task, which involves all elements of the Macedonian information, proposes to French speaking readers a lesser known subject. The main objectives of this study consist in the presentation of a complete framework of the Macedonian media and also in the analysis of the main problems related to the political and social issues. One of the central points of this study is to highlight the complex relations between politics and communities that are realized through the media. All these subjects create the media influence in one country, which is a pillar of its cultural life, an essential element of its political power and a fundamental factor of its national greatness

<p> The principal objective of this study was to understand the Macedonian psyche, more specifically the cultural layer of the psyche that makes this group unique, using the insights of depth psychology. The study addressed the question regarding how the myths and rituals about birth and dying have contributed to the formation of cultural, national, and personal identity, and how the complex of the culture is deeply embedded in individual and group psyches. Taking a historical perspective on Macedonian identity, beliefs, and rituals, this study contributes to the discussion about the role of the archetypal, collective, cultural, and symbolic function of the psyche in the creation of identity and culture. Narrative inquiry was utilized in this study. Specifically, through the narratives of 4 participants, the psychic processes involved in the identity formation and change influenced by certain cultural forms, such as traditional beliefs and ritualistic practices, are described. Subsequently, by analyzing the mythical beliefs and investigating the archetypal material that lies in the heart of a culture, a cultural complex was identified and examined.</p><p> Seven themes discovered in this study along with the analysis of the myth, which mirrors the Macedonian group psyche, offer a comprehensive depth psychological understanding of the phenomenon of the Macedonian <i>cultural complex of inferiority and smallness</i>, explaining the bipolarity of the complex with its destructive and constructive manifestations in the group and individual behavior. A transgenerational trauma of oppression and continued grieving for the loss of a hero/father figure underlie the complex of inferiority and smallness.</p><p> The study concluded with the discussion about healing of the complex, illuminating psychology that strives to understand, experience, and consciously embrace the loss. An area in need of further depth perspective research is a cross-cultural inquiry regarding group complexes and their interaction between nations in volatile parts of the world, such as the Balkans.</p><p> Key Words: Cultural Complex, Jung, Myth, Ritual, Macedonia, Psyche, National Identity, Transgenerational Trauma, Depth Psychology.</p>

This thesis looks into the role of identity in ethnic conflict from social-psychological and cognitive perspectives.<br>The literature of Social Psychology suggests that one strategy of social groups under pressure or threat is to revert to their collective identity and manipulate it in ways that yield a distinct positive value for group members. Focusing on the main proponent of this view, Social Identity Theory, and transposing its premises onto an ethnic level, an Ethnic Identity Theory is proposed that explains ethnic identity's utility for the positive self-esteem of members of an ethnic group during a time of crisis.<br>As far as the cognitive aspect is concerned, the focus moves on to the individual level of analysis. It explores the issue of how information may be represented in the human brain, and proposes that it is due to particular 'exclusive' cognitive strategies of knowledge categorization, storing and re-processing that ethnic conflict is enhanced. Borrowing from Artificial Intelligence literature on Schemata and Frame theory, ethnic identity is treated as a frame with multiple slots for various traits that comprise an ethnic identity. Such modeling helps illustrate how properties related to the architecture of these mental structures result in the constructed ethnic identities becoming more rigid---their individual traits acquiring singular importance and, once challenged, affecting the whole identity.<br>This study concludes by pointing that, if intransigence and inflexibility concerning ethnic identity traits begins on a cognitive micro-level, then, little progress towards peace should be expected in on-going ethnic conflicts, unless cognitively unbiased third parties are involved in peace-making, and unless their involvement includes action on a cognitive-learning level to change convictions about warring groups members' perception of their own as well as others' ethnic identities.

La Grèce et la République de Macédoine entretiennent des relations aussi intenses que complexes. C'est dans ce contexte, qui a vu passer la République de Macédoine du statut de république yougoslave à celui d'Etat indépendant que se place l'analyse des relations transfrontalières entretenues à l'échelle locale. Dans un premier temps, ce travail explore les processus transfrontaliers en cours afin de les documenter avant de les analyser au regard des processus sociaux à l’œuvre de part et d’autre de cette frontière. Cette analyse se base sur l'approche par le biais des recompositions en vue d’appréhender de façon combinée l'influence du passé et des enjeux contemporains sur les processus socio-spatiaux en cours dans les espaces étudiés. Se basant sur l’hypothèse selon laquelle les évolutions passées peuvent être mobilisées dans le cadre des diverses relations transfrontalières d’aujourd’hui, l’étude de l’histoire de la région et des multiples processus de fragmentation est nécessaire afin d’en analyser les résurgences. Ce travail s’oriente alors sur l’identification des acteurs de ces relations, des cadres dans lesquels ils agissent et des éléments mobilisés au fil de la relation construite pour en identifier les mécanismes et conséquences dans les sociétés frontalières étudiées, tout en prêtant une attention particulière aux dimensions culturelles et ethniques le long d’une frontière caractérisée par la présence transnationale de plusieurs groupes linguistiques ou ethniques. La construction de ces groupes ethniques et leurs évolutions contemporaines est ainsi examinée sous l’angle de leurs liens possibles avec les modalités de la relation transfrontalière<br>Nowadays, Greece and the Republic of Macedonia are connected through intense but complex cross-border relations despite the name issue. The study of the these relations at the local level is taking place in that context that saw the Republic of Macedonia evolving from the status of member state of the Yugoslav federation to an independent state with European fate. The first aim of this research is to explore these cross-border relations in order to testify and document it. Several frames of cross-border relations are targeted through this work. In a context of economic crisis, border appears as a resource for an informal economy exploiting the economic and commercial differences between the countries. On the same way, the European integration process is also promoting cross-border relations through cross-border cooperation. But all actors are not equal regarding these processes in an area of cultural diversity. The approach through recompositions allows us to analyze the influence and interactions of past and contemporary issues in borderlands and their societies. Starting from the hypothesis that pasts historical events in the area are influencing the actual cross-border relations, the study of regional history and fragmentation processes that divided it is necessary to analyze its resurgences. Therefore, the issue is to identify the actors of these relations, the frame in which they locate their actions and the elements they mobilize for it by giving a special attention to cultural and ethnic dimensions. The building of ethnic groups and their contemporary evolutions will be analyzed through their possible connections with the cross-border relations’ modalities

This thesis tries to provide valuable insight and explain the role of identity perceptions on security as a means to avert conflicts and security threats. The aim is to provide an identity based explanation to security problems. Constructivism and „social identity theory‟ are its theoretical points of departure which help us understand how we construct social identities and have the tendency to be prejudicial towards others. Our prejudices and negative identity perceptions play a major role in security issues. We will use process tracing to find how identity perceptions are constructed and how they affect security. More explicitly we will trace the process of how identities were affected by historical events as well as the ethnocentric interpretation of these historical events. For thorough analysis, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia are chosen as case studies. The findings will hopefully propose better solutions to security problems and built knowledge applicable to other similar security threats.

Denna studie berör den nuvarande disputen om namnet “Makedonien” mellan Grekland och Republiken Makedonien. Grekisk identitet undersöks genom disputen och visas vara ett viktigt element för att förstå disputen. Diskurser produceras från både det Grekiska och Makedoniska perspektivet, vilka visar hur både antiken och den nuvarande disputen konstrueras. En tredje diskurs konstrueras från antika Grekiska författare för att problematisera Grekisk identitetskonstruktion, vilken framställer greker som ensamma arvtagare åt de antika Grekerna. Disputen visas ha politiserats både inbördes och bilateralt i båda länderna, försök till kompromisser från vardera sida riskerar därför att förarga och raljera populistiska uppfattningar i landet. Den moderna Grekiska nationen som ett förverkligande av de antika Grekerna visas vara föreställda i att de antika Grekerna värderade sin stadsstat suveränitet högt och inte hade en uppfattning av Greker som en politisk grupp, utan snarare som en väldigt lös kulturell grupp.

The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe are a large minority group that experience widespread marginalisation and social hardship. This research is focused on a substantial Roma community in the Republic of Macedonia, called Shuto Orizari. The work explores the construct of ethnic identity for this group, the way they participate in society through their acculturation orientations, and the influence these factors have on outcomes within the labour market. Seventeen people took part in the study across a range of backgrounds and a standpoint methodology was used to articulate the views of social reality for the participants. Information was collected through semi-structured interviews to which grounded theory was then applied. The findings support existing theories on the construct of ethnic boundaries and social identity. 'Being Roma' is important to all who took part in the study, yet unlike other Roma communities this identity is free and unthreatened. Participants chose two ways to acculturate in society; roughly half of the participants integrated with the majority ethnic Macedonian community and portrayed a comfortable balance with their heritage culture often not seen in other Roma communities. The remaining participants followed a separatist path within purely Roma circles. This introversion produced extremely negative outcomes, most notably the poor psychological and sociocultural experiences within the labour market. The work concludes that although modes of identity construct within this community are different to other Roma groups, a person's acculturation orientation can still dramatically affect life outcomes. This conclusion can help steer policies to improve the experiences of social participation for the Roma of Shuto Orizari, or potentially other large ethnic groups.

This study aim to identify the affecting factors about business cycles synchronization between Turkey and its trade partner, Macedonia. For a better understanding of the subject, we give the theoretical and empirical literatures. Countries are faced with crises and recessions because of often fluctuations in the economy. Dynamic structure of economic fluctuations should be analyzed for the combat the crises and recessions. It must be analyzed the relationship between business cycles fluctuations and economic variables with sophisticated econometric methods. Analyzing the business cycles synchronization is important for the sake of stability and determining the prudential policies. We used Panel Generalized Methods of Moments to analyze the business cycles synchronization between Turkey and its trade partner, Macedonia via STATA. Identifying the determinants of business cycles synchronizations between Turkey and Macedonian economies provide the effective economic policies in these countries. Effective economic policy increase the trade volume between Turkey and Macedonia. If we identify the business cycles synchronization correctly, policy makers take an advantage for interventions on economy. After the analyzed, we conclude that there is a business cycles synchronization between Turkey and Macedonia.

The subject of vernacular architecture, as is well known, is a vast concept embracing different fields of investigation. It is a type of art created to suit specific lifestyles of single communities, such as the Islamic community. Bazaars, characteristic markets in Eastern countries, are a significant example in this context. The proposed contribution intends to analyse these architectural and urban environments in Albania and Macedonia, through the discipline of restoration aimed at knowledge, documentation and conservation. The proposed case studies represent a significant example of how the restoration of these areas is of fundamental importance for the urban regeneration of historic cities. The Bazaar in Skopjie has always been regarded as the cultural, spiritual, economic and historical centre of the capital. This site, from an architectural point of view, has managed to create an image of the old city in the new city, preserving its original identity features over the centuries. In Tirana, on the other hand, the new Bazaar is a genuine urban regeneration project that aims to preserve the Albanian cultural tradition. If the Bazaar in Skopjie is in a precarious state of conservation, while maintaining its original character, the recently rebuilt Albanian market is an important example of not only architectural but also urban regeneration. The proposed research has foreseen different operational phases: an initial analysis of the historical transformations of the areas under investigation; an identification on a territorial scale and a subsequent analysis on an architectural scale using the restoration discipline. The aim of the investigation is to identify the level of use and conservation of both Bazaars, in order to elaborate digital documents on a cognitive basis for the identification of guidelines for the conservation and enhancement project of the case studies taken as a model for the proposed research.

The main aim of this paper is to identify current levels of knowledge, skills and abilities of the SMEs’ employees in North Macedonia, vis-à-vis firms’ needs for knowledge and skills. This paper analyzes the current levels of employee job-specific, soft, digital and entrepreneurial skills on a sample of firms in North Macedonia. For the purposes of this research, the employees were classified in three categories: core employees, supporting employees and managers. The results of the research show that the main challenge regarding the soft skills refers to solving complex problems, capacity for job analysis and initiative. Adapting to new technologies is found to be the weakest aspect of digital skill among employees. Entrepreneurial skills related to risk taking, capacity to generate new ideas, creativity and innovation as well as flexibility at work are also considered to be a challenge.

Globally, the voluntary turnover of labor is an inevitable reality which every organization must face. The voluntary mobilization means that a person leaves the organization as a result of a personal decision, whereas for the organization it is a loss of a specific knowledge, skills and abilities. Therefore, to keep the talents inside the organization, the human resources specialists have to be proactive instead of reactive. Bearing in mind the high level of turnover and deficit of labor in the IT sector in the Republic of North Macedonia, being able to keep the quality employees is a challenge for the domestic companies in this sector. The human resource management is requested to apply specific measures that will affect the process of keeping the talents in the organization and will keep the organizational performance on a long term. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors that lead to a voluntary turnover of the IT employees in the country and to show how in modern conditions the human resource management manages the labor turnover. An empirical research has been made with the qualitative method for forecasting - Delphi where the analysis sample is constructed by human resource managers of IT companies in the Republic of North Macedonia. The obtained results are presented and analyzed and they show valuable insights for the management of the IT companies in North Macedonia.

Abstract – The paper contains a comparison of the previous standard for use of elastic guardrail with the newly applied. The comparison will identify the advantages and disadvantages of both standards regarding the type of the materials, installation, designer approach and maintenance. In addition, comparison will be conducted regarding the safety aspect via constructed test sections. Keywords – Disadvantages, Materials, Guardrail, Advantages, Comparison.

Government consumption plays an important role for stability of the national economy, especially in periods of economic crisis. However, rapidly growing public debt is a concerning issue nowadays, since it might jeopardize economic growth perspectives. Economic theory suggests that public debt has non-linear impact on economic growth in a form of inverted U-shape. In other words, it is believed that after a certain threshold, public debt will have negative impact on economic growth. Given that such threshold varies significantly across countries, the aim of this paper is to calculate the turning point of the public debt impact in the Republic of North Macedonia. For this purpose, we use non-linear multiple regression model for real GDP growth rate as dependent variable, general government public debt-to-GDP ratio (in nominal and squared terms) as key independent variable, as well as several other controlling variables. Since theory also suggests reverse causality between economic growth and public debt, we use three different estimation techniques (Ordinary Least Squares, Two-Stages Least Squares, and Generalized Method of Moments) to deal with potential endogeneity, as well as to cross-validate the results. Our results show that general government debt in the Republic of North Macedonia positively affects economic growth until it reaches around 30% of GDP, whereas further indebtedness after that turning point will most likely have negative impact. Given that current debt level is slightly above 40% (10 percentage points higher than the turning point), whereby due to the COVID-19 crisis it is expected to grow even more in the upcoming years, the need of urgent fiscal consolidation inevitably arises. In this regards, deeper and more comprehensive analysis is needed in order to identify adequate channels for its efficient and effective implementation.

This study aims to identify and present the relevant studies employing DEA applications in bank efficiency evaluation in six Western Balkan (WB) countries as follows: North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&amp;H). This article implements an extensive systematic literature review of studies that employ the DEA methodology in the efficiency evaluation of Western Balkan countries’ banking systems. The conducted literature review has surveyed the Scopus, Web of Science (SSCI and SCI papers) and Google Scholar databases with „Data Envelopment Analysis“, „Western Balkan“ (and each of the WB countries as keywords) and „Bank“ as keywords for the search following the PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature review. Thereafter, a manual survey of these studies was conducted, which eventually resulted in 31 papers regarding the efficiency of WB countries’ banking systems. This study provides an in-depth literature review on bank efficiency studies with DEA in each of the analysed Western Balkan countries (eight in Serbia, six in North Macedonia, none in Montenegro, three in Albania, three in Kosovo, five in Bosnia and Herzegovina and six cross-country studies that include any of these Western Balkan countries), as well as a presentation of their used models, the selected variables and their findings. The findings reveal that, in most cases, the large banks in WB are most efficient and the small-sized banks are the least efficient. This literature review indicates that the surveyed studies have been published in the period between 2008 and 2022. The findings primarily show the applicability of DEA in the bank efficiency literature

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are crucial for any national economy through their vital contribution to sustainable growth, economic development and employment. The digital revolution, globalization, and the latest impact and pressure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have posed even greater barriers and challenges for these enterprises. In order for small and medium-sized enterprises to respond to the new challenges, to participate in the market and gain a competitive position, they need to be different, and this can only be accomplished through an innovative way of working. To foster innovation, strategic changes are needed in the operation of the SMEs, with a focus on the people involved, the ways and methods used in the organizational environment, and the desired innovation results. Connecting to the external environment (networking) and/or using an open innovation system are also fundamental to the success of the enterprise innovation process. Innovative capacity of the businesses is a function of the organization’s culture, resources and networks. The main purpose of this paper is to identify certain strategic factors that contribute to creating an innovative organizational environment and fostering innovation, i.e. increasing the innovation capacity of SMEs in Pelagonia region in North Macedonia.

Recent developments in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have had a substantial impact on students, teachers and content delivery modes around the globe. This paper reports the efforts of the University of Tetovo (UT) in North Macedonia (NM) and Banat’s USAMVB University “King Michael I of Romania” to find rapid and efficient means of switching from direct to remote course delivery while maintaining effective communication. Acknowledging that little space was available for training teachers and learners to prepare for such rapid changes, this study examines how students responded. Applying exploratory research methods, the paper offers a preliminary analysis of the difficulties that learners faced in shifting to online presentation. Qualitative data was collected using student interviews and content analysis (Silverman, 2005) was applied to identify themes, biases and meaning. Convenience sampling among enrolled students in the academic year 2020/2021 at both universities identified a non-random sample of 16 students. The findings of the study revealed that participants faced many difficulties in their venture; however, using various strategies, effective planning and organization, they managed to a certain extent to overcome this situation.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the mobility of researchers from the six Western Balkan Countries, Albania, Bosnia and Herzego-vina, Kosovo*1, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia (abbr. WB6) within structured regional and European mobility programmes. We want to identify geographical patterns with a view on mobility-based training from the WB6 region to the EU, but also within the WB6 region. The following structured regional European programmes provide the basis for this comparative analysis • CEEPUS • ERASMUS + • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) • COST