An ancient, strategically important and much-contested territory, the historical region known as Macedonia was variously controlled by the Greeks, Romans, Bulgarians, Byzantines, Serbs and Ottoman Turks, who conquered the area in 1371, and kept it until the beginning of the 20th century. Then, as Turkish power declined, Macedonia once again became a bone of contention between its various neighbors and their respective superpower allies. In 1893, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was founded to promote independence. In 1912/13, the Balkan Wars drove the Turks out of the area,
and it was carved up between Serbia and Greece, with Bulgaria retaining only a small part. Vardar Macedonia became part of the new ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ in 1918 (‘Yugoslavia’ from 1929).
This caused much anti-Serbian resentment locally during the inter-war period, when the IMRO was also used as a terrorist organization against Belgrade by Bulgaria, which again occupied the area under German direction during World War II. In 1945, the area became a constituent republic of the new communist Yugoslav federation, which the Serbs opposed. Thereafter a new ‘Macedonian’ nation was created, but this was never accepted as legitimate by any of the republic’s neighbors. In December 1990, following the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro), Macedonia held its first multi-party elections for the 120-seat national assembly, the
Sobranie. The results were inconclusive. The electorate converged upon four main parties: a rejuvenated version of IMRO; the former communist Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDAM), which evolved from the former Communist Party; the Liberal Party of Macedonia (LPM) and the Democratic Prosperity Party (DPP), which drew support from the country’s sizeable Albanian minority. Throughout the 1990s, and two further elections, the country was governed by a series of coalition governments led by either IMRO or SDAM. The most recent Sobranie election in September 2002 returned another SDAM-led coalition under a new premier, Branko Crvenkovski. Other than the emergence of the Democratic Union for Integration, which supplanted the DPP as the main custodian of Albanian interests, the complexion of the new assembly is similar to previous ones.
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s quest for international recognition ran up against objections from Greece, which felt that Skopje’s use of the title ‘Macedonia’ implies a territorial claim against Aegean Macedonia in Greece, given that it corresponds with the northern Greek province of the same name (the ancient name ‘Paeonia’ is preferred in Athens). The Greeks agreed to a compromise name – ‘The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ – under which it joined the United Nations in April 1993.
In 1997, simmering ethnic tensions between the majority Slavic population and the country’s Albanian minority - who are roughly 20 per cent of the population - turned violent. The conflict was closely related to that in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo immediately north of (Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia (see
Serbia and Montenegro section). Over the next 12 months, the situation in both (Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia and Kosovo deteriorated until, in October 1998, the flight of thousands of refugees from Kosovo persuaded the Macedonian government to close the border. The crisis passed but erupted again at the beginning of 2001 after a series of clashes between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas. During the next few months, it seemed that (Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia would be the last of the former Yugoslav republics to be consumed by civil war. Urgent international diplomacy brought about the Ohrid Agreement in August 2001 guaranteeing political and cultural rights for the Albanian population in (Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia. NATO dispatched a peacekeeping force to supervise the implementation of the accord. In March 2003 the NATO force was replaced by one drawn, for the first time, exclusively from the European Union and marking a significant evolution in EU foreign and security policy. The situation in the country is largely peaceful but still very tense.
GovernmentLegislative power rests with the elected 120-seat national assembly, the
Sobranie. Executive authority is wielded by the elected State President who appoints the Council of Ministers. In the parliament of FYROM, 120 members are elected according to the proportional model, whereby the territory of the FYROM is divided into six election districts (determined by law), each of which elects 20 members of the parliament.
EconomyMacedonia’s economy has been undermined by regional strife - the civil war in the neighboring Serbian province of Kosovo, instability in Albania and, most recently, the conflict between the government and Albanian nationalists - which has also deterred investment from the region. The economy shrank consistently throughout the 1990s; in 2001, it contracted by 5%.
However, by 2004, the economy began to grow, with annual growth reaching 3.6% in 2005. The new government elected in 2006 pledged to increase growth to 7%. In 2006, the growth rate remained around the 3% mark.
Unemployment remains exceptionally high at around 36%, with the result that a thriving black economy (a characteristic of most of the southern Balkans) is operating.
Next Page »
