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Photo Milka Ivanovska Hadjievska

Milka Ivanovska Hadjievska

Postdoctoral Fellow

Photo Milka Ivanovska Hadjievska

Institutional and symbolic aspects of illiberal politics: the case of North Macedonia (2006–2017)

Author

  • Borjan Gjuzelov
  • Milka Ivanovska Hadjievska

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