REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA• Official name: Republika Makedonija (Republic of Macedonia). This is name of the country according to the Constitution. For international purposes the country is known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Poranesna Jugoslovenska Republika Makedonija).
In the 19th century, as Ottoman power declined, Macedonia became a focus of contention between the rising nationalist powers of Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. From the 1890s armed groups supported by all three powers fought the Ottomans and each other for control. A specifically Macedonian nationalism also arose, led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (VMRO). During the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the Ottomans were expelled and Macedonia was divided between Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. The northern area of Macedonia, with a predminantly Slav-Macedonian population, became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after World War I, while the coastal areas around Thessaloniki were absorbed into Greece. The VMRO continued to agitate for Macedonian independence. After wartime occupation by Bulgaria and Germany, in 1945 Macedonia became a republic within the Communist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 
Macedonian nationalism re-emerged in the 1980s as Yugoslavia disintegrated and in 1991 independence was declared. This provoked a strongly hostile reaction from Greece, which objected to the use of the word Macedonia (which it saw as exclusively Greek) and also to implied Macedonian claims to Greek Macedonia. After two years of stalemate Macedonian independence was recognised in 1993, under the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." The conservative nationalist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation, allied with the Liberal Party of Macedonia, dominated the early years of independent Macedonia, but its mishandling of relations with the Albanian minority, which in 1999-2001 provoked an outbreak of communal fighting in Albanian areas, has undermined its support. In 2002 the VMRO was defeated by the Together for Macedonia coalition, which is led by the Social Democratic League of Macedonia and the Liberal-Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of Albanians, the Democratic Union for Integration and the Democratic Prosperity Party represent the Albanian minority. At the 2006 election the VMRO and its allies returned to office, and Nikola Gruevski became Prime Minister. He was re-elected with an increased majority at the 2008 elections (called following Greece's veto of Macedonia's bid to join NATO), and in 2009 the VMRO also won the presidential elections. Freedom House's 2009 report on Macedonia says: "Macedonia is an electoral democracy. Most elections held since independence have been deemed satisfactory according to international standards, though the June 2008 elections were marred by a number of irregularities[. They] were accompanied by violence and fraud, drawing criticism from poll monitors... Corruption continues to hamper economic growth and political transparency in Macedonia, although the country has made progress in confronting it in recent years... Macedonia was ranked 72 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... The constitution provides for freedom of the press... Political appointees are frequently named to senior positions in state-owned media, the main source of information for most of the population... Constitutional guarantees of freedoms of assembly and association are generally respected. NGOs typically operate without government interference... According to a November 2008 EU progress report, the judiciary has made some progress in strengthening its independence and efficiency over the past year. Nevertheless, serious problems with corruption remain... Most of the reforms called for in the Ohrid Agreement have been or are being implemented. For example, a law that took effect in January 2008 gave local governments more say on economic development issues. However, disputes between ethnic Albanian and Macedonian Slav politicians continue over matters like the use of the Albanian language throughout Macedonia, display of the flag of neighboring Albania, and increasing the number of ethnic Albanians in government." Updated March 2010 |