COMPETING STATE IMAGES ON THE FORMER YUGOSLAV SPACE: MACEDONIA VERSUS ILIRIDA

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 2, 619 - 653, 16.12.2025

Abdullah Muhsin Yıldız

https://doi.org/10.30903/baed.1840232

Abstract

During the disintegration of multinational federations at the beginning of the 1990s, existing political units within the Yugoslav political space declared independence and ethnic groups residing in them sought to establish separate autonomous entities. This study specifically focuses on state-building policies in North Macedonia during the Yugoslav turmoil of dissolution with a “state within society” approach. It examines how post-communist Macedonian political leadership attempted to build a dominant state image on the territories of the former Yugoslav socialist republic. The article argues that if an autonomous, united, and centralized state perception fails to resonate with society, alternative state images may emerge within the same national territory- possibly even transcending legitimate borders. This study applied the “states as images” approach to the Macedonian-Albanian relations in North Macedonia during a limited period, from the dissolution of Yugoslavia to the 2001 conflict. It is posited that post-communist Macedonian political elites projected a Macedonian state image through practices. However, Albanians of Macedonia implemented policies on behalf of revived Ilirida perception, where they could unite with Kosovar Albanians in the future. The 2001 conflict demonstrated that the Ilirida state image had reached a war-making capacity, challenging the Macedonian state’s monopoly on violence. As a result, Macedonian authorities were compelled to negotiate and eventually transform the state into a Macedonian-Albanian image.

Keywords

Yugoslavia , Macedonia , State image , Albanians , Macedonians

ESKİ YUGOSLAV TOPRAKLARINDA YARIŞAN DEVLET İMAJLARI: MAKEDONYA’YA KARŞI İLİRİDA

Abstract

1990’lı yılların başında çok uluslu federasyonların dağılma sürecinde Yugoslavya siyasal alanı içerisinde mevcut siyasal birimler bağımsızlıklarını ilan etmiş ve bu birimler içerisinde yaşayan etnik gruplar ayrı özerk yapılar kurma arayışına girmiştir. Bu çalışma, Yugoslavya’nın dağılması sırasında Kuzey Makedonya’daki devlet inşası politikalarına “toplum içinde devlet yaklaşımıyla” odaklanmaktadır. Post-komünist Makedon siyasi aktörlerin eski Yugoslav sosyalist cumhuriyeti topraklarında dominant bir devlet imajı inşa etme politikalarını incelemektedir. Bu makale toplumdan özerk, birleşik ve merkezi bir devlet algısının halk arasında yerleşmemesi durumunda, alternatif devlet imajlarının bir ulusun topraklarında ortaya çıkabileceğini ve hatta siyasi sınırları aşabileceğini ileri sürmektedir. Çalışma, Yugoslavya’nın dağılmasından 2001 çatışmasına kadar seçilen sınırlı bir süre boyunca Kuzey Makedonya’daki Makedonya-Arnavutluk ilişkilerine devlet imajları yaklaşımıyla bakmaktadır. Post-komünist Makedon siyasi elitlerinin yürüttüğü uygulamalarla bir Makedonya devleti imajı ürettiği öne sürülmektedir. Ancak, bölgedeki değişen güç dengeleri sırasında Makedonya Arnavutları, İlirida algısını canlandırmış ve gelecekte sınırların ötesindeki Kosovalı Arnavutlarla birleşebilecekleri bu hayali birime yönelik politika yürütmüştür. 2001 çatışması İlirida devlet imajının savaş yapma kapasitesine eriştiğini göstermiş, şiddet tekelinin ortadan kalkmasıyla diz çöken Makedon otoriteler, devletin Makedon-Arnavut imajına dönüşmesini müzakere etmek zorunda kalmıştır.

Keywords

Yugoslavya , Makedonya , Devlet imajı , Arnavutlar , Makedonlar.

References

• ABRAMS, Philip, “Notes on the Difficulty of Studying the State”, Journal of Historical Sociology, Volume 1, Number 1, March 1988, pp. 58-89.
• AHRENS, Geert-Hinrich, Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia, Woodrow Wilson Center Press with John Hopkins University Press, Washington and Baltimore 2007.
• ATANASOV, Petar, “Macedonia between Nationalism(s) and Multiculturalism: The Framework Agreement and Its Multicultural Conjectures”, Sociologija, Volume 45, Number 4, 2003, pp. 303-316.
• BIDELEUX, Robert and JEFFRIES, Ian, The Balkans: A Post-Communist History, Routledge, London and New York 2007.
• BILLIG, Michael, Banal Nationalism, Sage Publications, London 1995.
• BROWN, Keith S., “In the Realm of the Double-edged Eagle: Parapolitics in Macedonia, 1994-9”, Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, (ed.) Jane K., Pluto Press, London 2000, pp. 122-139.
• BRUNNBAUER, Ulf, “The Implementation of the Ohrid Agreement: Ethnic Macedonian Resentments”, Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, Issue 1, 2002, pp. 1-24.
• BUGAJSKI, Janusz, “Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties”, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Routledge, London and New York 2015.
• BUMCI, Aldo, “Regional Perspectives for an Independent Kosovo-Albania and Macedonia”, Understanding of the War in Kosovo, (ed.) Florian Bieber and Zhidas Daskalovski, Frank Cass, London and Portland 2003, pp. 279-297.
• DASKALOVSKI, Židas, Walking in the Edge: Consolidating Multiethnic Macedonia: 1989-2004, Globic Press, Chapel Hill 2006.
• DEVETAK, Silvo, “Minorities and Autonomy in Central and Eastern Europe”, Federalism, Regionalism, Local Autonomy and Minorities, Proceedings, Studies and Texts, No. 52, Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1996, pp. 69-92.
• EVANS, Peter B., RUESCHEMEYER, Dietrich and SKOCPOL, Theda, Bringing the State Back In, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985.
• FISHER, Ian, “Macedonians Give Tentative Approval to a Peace Accord”, New York Times, 9 August 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/09/world/macedonians-give-tentative-approval-to-a-peace-accord.html, (09.08.2024).
• FRAENKEL, Eran, “Nations in Transit – Macedonia”, Freedom House, 29 May 2003, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/freehou/2003/en/49863, (18.11.2024).
• GABER, Natasha, “The Muslim Population in FYROM (Macedonia): Public Perceptions”, Muslim Identity and the Balkan State, (ed.) Hugh Poulton and Suha Taji-Farouki, Hurst and Company, London 1997, pp. 103-114.
• GLENNY, Misha, “The Macedonian Question: Still No Answers”, Social Research, Volume 62, Number 1, Spring 1995, pp. 143-160.
• GLIGOROV, Kiro, “The Unrealistic Dreams of Large States”, The New Macedonian Question, (ed.) James Pettifer, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2001, pp. 96-106.
• GUPTA, Akhil, “Blurred Boundaries: The Discourse of Corruption, The Culture of Politics, and the Imagined State”, American Ethnologist, Volume 22, Number 2, May 1995, pp. 375-402.
• HAYDEN, Robert M., “Constitutionalism Nationalism in the Formerly Yugoslav Republics”, Slavic Review, Volume 51, Number 4, Winter 1992, pp. 654-673.
• HOBSBAWM, Eric, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions”, Invention of Tradition, (ed.) Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, pp. 1-14.
• HRW (Human Rights Watch), Crimes against Civilians: Abuses by Macedonian Forces in Ljuboten, 10-12 August 2001, https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/macedonia/, (09.08.2024).
• ISENI, Bashkim, “One State, Divided Society: The Albanians in Macedonia”, Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia: Value Transformation, Education, and Media, (ed.) Sabrina P. Ramet, Ola Listhaug and Albert Simkus, The Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, pp. 175-193.
• MANN, Michael, States, War, and Capitalism, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford 1988.
• MARINOV, Tchavdar, “Anticommunist, but Macedonian: Politics of Memory in Post-Yugoslav Macedonia”, Currents of History, Volume 1-2, 2009, pp. 65-83.
• MAROLOV, Dejan, “Understanding the Ohrid Framework Agreement”, Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia: Value Transformation, Education, and Media, (ed.) Sabrina P. Ramet, Ola Listhaug and Albert Simkus, The Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, pp. 134-154.
• MIGDAL, Joel S., State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004.
• MITCHELL, Timothy, “The Limits of the State: Beyond Statist Approaches and Their Critics”, American Political Science Review, Volume 85, Number 1, 1991, pp. 77-96.
• Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia (OGRM), Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. No: 91/01, 16 November 2001.
• PEARSON, Brenda, “Putting Peace into Practice: Can Macedonia’s New Government Meet the Challenge?” US Institute of Peace, Washington 2002.
• PERRY, Duncan M., “Destiny on Hold: Macedonia and the Dangers of Ethnic Discord”, Current History, 1 March 1998, pp. 119-126.
• PETTIFER, James, “The Albanians in Western Macedonia after FYROM Independence”, The New Macedonian Question, (ed.) James Pettifer, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001, pp. 137-147.
• RAE, Heather, State Identities and the Homogenisation of Peoples, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003.
• RAMET, Sabrina P. Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milošević, Westview Press, Colorado 2002.
• REKA, Armend, “The Ohrid Agreement: The Travails of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Macedonia”, Human Rights Review, Number 9, 2008, pp. 55-69.
• REUTER, Jens, “Policy and Economy in Macedonia”, The New Macedonian Question, (ed.) James Pettifer, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1999, pp. 28-46.
• SAZDOVSKI, Aleksandar, Nation-building under the Societal Dilemma: The Case of Macedonia, Journal of Regional Security Volume 10, Number 1, 2011, pp. 53-78.
• SHILS, Edward, “Centre and periphery”, The Logic of Personal Knowledge: Essays Presented to Michael Polanyi, (ed.) Polanyi Festschrift Committee, Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited Broadway House, London 1961, pp. 117-130.
• SKOCPOL, Theda, “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research”, Bringing the State Back In, (ed.) Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Theda Skocpol, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985, pp. 3-43.
• STEFOSKA, Irena, “Some Aspects of History Textbooks for Secondary School: The Case of Macedonia”, Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia: Value Transformation, Education, and Media, (ed.) Sabrina P. Ramet, Ola Listhaug ve Albert Simkus, The Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, pp. 258-278.
• VANGELOV, Ognen, “Stalled European Integration, the Primordialization of Nationalism, and Autocratization in Macedonia between 2008 and 2015, East European Journal of Society and Politics Volume 3, Number 4, 2017, pp. 17-40.
• VANKOVSKA, Biljana, “Constitutional Engineering and Institution-building in the Republic of Macedonia (1991-2011)”, Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia: Value Transformation, Education, and Media, (ed.) Sabrina P. Ramet, Ola Listhaug ve Albert Simkus, The Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, pp. 87-108.
• WELLER, Marc “Piggy in the Middle”, New Statesman and Society, 5, 221, 25 September 1992, pp. 32-33.