Macedonia And Its Questions

Macedonia and its Questions: Origins, Margins, Ruptures and Continuityis a multi-disciplinary book of 11 chapters, containing contributions that span the fields of linguistics, political science, sociology, history and law. The title of the book purposefully references but simultaneously interrogates and challenges the idea that certain nation-states and certain ethnicities can in some way constitute a "question" while others do not. The "Macedonian Question" generally has the status of a problem that involves questioning the very existence of Macedonians and one of the aims of this volume is to reframe the nature of the discussion.

This book is a comprehensive and dispassionate analysis of the intriguing Macedonian Question from 1878 until 1949 and of the Macedonians (and of their neighbours) from the 1890s until today, with the two themes intertwining. The Macedonian Question was an offshoot of the wider Eastern Question – i.e., the fate of the European remnants of the Ottoman Empire once it dissolved. The initial protagonists of the Macedonian Question were Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, and a Slav-speaking population inhabiting geographical Macedonia in search of its destiny, the largest segment of which ended up creating a new nation, comprising the Macedonians, something unacceptable to its three neighbours. Alexis Heraclides analyses the shifting sands of the Macedonian Question and of the gradual rise of Macedonian nationhood, with special emphasis on the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian claims to Macedonia (1870s–1919); the birth and vicissitudes of the most famous Macedonian revolutionary organization, the VM(O)RO, and of other organizations (1893–1940); the appearance and gradual establishment of the Macedonian nation from the 1890s until 1945; Titos’s crucial role in Macedonian nationhood-cum-federal status; the Greek-Macedonian name dispute (1991–2018), including the ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ – the deep-seated reasons rendering the clash intractable for decades; the final Greek-Macedonian settlement (the 2018 Prespa Agreement); the Bulgarian-Macedonian dispute (1950–today) and its ephemeral settlement in 2017; the issue of the Macedonian language; and the Macedonian national historical narrative. The author also addresses questions around who the ancient Macedonians were and the fascination with Alexander the Great. This monograph will be an essential resource for scholars working on Macedonian history, Balkan politics and conflict resolution.

This text provides a analysis of the events which took place in Macedonia between 1893 and 1908 as reported by diplomatic and military representatives of the Great Powers. It focuses on the activities of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, illustrating its roles as an independent organization with its own ideas, goals and methods. The author conducts a review of the aims and policies of the Great Powers towards Macedonia, with France, Russia, Austria, Britain and Italy each establishing their own spheres of influence. She also provides an interpretation of the reasons for the failure of diplomacy and foreign intervention to solve the complex and still pertinent Macedonian question.

The Macedonian question has been at the heart of the Balkan crisis for most of the twentieth century. This important book is the first to bring together international experts to analyse the recent history of Macedonia since the break-up of Yugoslavia, and includes seminal analyses of key issues in ethnic relations, politics, and recent history. It is edited by James Pettifer, a British authority on the southern Balkans, and is likely to prove a landmark in its field.

.What this book essentially offers us is a clear and concise after-the-fact account of the decisive role of the Communist Party of Greece in the tragic fate of the Macedonian people in the first half of the 20th century in Aegean Macedonia. --Professor Michael Seraphinoff

Macedonia has been contested by its three neighbours – Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece – during and since the demise of the Ottoman Empire. But the Macedonian Question extends far beyond the contested borders of Macedonia to immigrant communities in Europe, Australia and North America. The contributors to this collection explore the contemporary repercussions of the Macedonian Question, which has long been at the heart of Balkan politics. The volume recognises Macedonia as a global issue, and focuses on the politics of identity and difference in both homeland and diaspora.The contributors argue that Macedonia as place and as concept is forged within a transnational network of diasporas, local communities, states and international institutions. They examine the increasingly important role of transnational bodies – including the European Union and human rights NGOs – in regulating relationships between states and minority groups, as well as in promoting multiculturalism and civic participation. They consider the role of scholarship and the media in defining Macedonia and its inhabitants. They also draw attention to the struggles of individuals in constructing, negotiating and even transforming their identities in the face of competing nationalisms and memories. In the process, they re-evaluate ‘ethnicity’ as a conceptual tool for understanding difference in the region, and raise questions about the implications of recognising, and not recognising, difference at the political level.