Milka Ivanovska Hadjievska
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institutional and symbolic aspects of illiberal politics: the case of North Macedonia (2006–2017)
Author
Summary, in English
The paper discusses the underlying characteristics of Macedonian illiberal politics during the 11-year rule of the centre-right party VMRO-DPMNE (2006–2017) focusing on two aspects: institutional and symbolic. We argue that the unfair political competition was enabled by the weakness of pre-existing institutions and the population’s clientelist preferences, which were systematically exploited and expanded by VMRO-DPMNE. We also argue that the multi-ethnic character of the country, the disputed Macedonian national identity and the lack of viable international prospects allowed VMRO-DPMNE to construct a strong nationalist narrative that appealed to voters and further isolated the opposition.
Department/s
- Department of Political Science
Publishing year
2019-10-23
Language
English
Pages
41-60
Publication/Series
Southeast European and Black Sea Studies
Volume
20
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Routledge
Topic
- Political Science
Keywords
- North Macedonia
- illiberal politics
- VMRO-DPMNE
- competitive authoritarianism
- case study analysis
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1468-3857