The article deals with the substance and rhetoric of the notion “nuclear order” in a deconstructivity manner. Building on the definition of nuclear order as a set of institutions, norms, and ...practices governing the development and use of nuclear technology, the analysis focuses more on what is behind this “pragmatic compromise” in the world of international(and nuclear) anarchy. The key premise is that the discourse and politics of nuclear order are mechanisms of normalization of nuclear danger as something that can be managed an dwell-ordered. This kind of thinking and dealing with the nuclear threat, which is becoming an imminent one by a day, is embedded in the ideology of imperial status quo. At a time when the humanity faces existential threat(s), inter alia because of a possible nuclear clash, the academic rhetoric and action should shift the paradigm away from the “Don’t Look Up” film parody. The current arrangements of nuclear constraints, deterrence, non-proliferation etc. should be pictured for what they really are: a politics of acceptance to a life on a brink of total disaster based on the false belief that the national security state and the military alliances are able to protect Us vs Them.
The article sheds light on the causes, consequences, and possible scenarios of the geopolitics of vaccines. Given the international context and domination of structural violence and clashes of great ...powers on the global fault lines, no wonder that the vaccines have turned into a power politics tool rather than a global public good and an asset to save lives. Furthermore, private corporations have strengthened their grip on the state sand their populations, while the state leaderships of the rich countries ride on the wave of vaccine nationalism and overt discrimination of others. The issue of quality, availability, and distribution of anti-Covid-19 vaccines just offers a glimpse into an apocalyptic future – unless something is done soon to re-shape both State and the world order. The research sources are media-based, but from a variety of geographical areas. Also, they are correlated with available academic analyses and findings concerning the so-called pandemopolitics, i.e. international and state politics in the time of pandemic.
Macedonia has reached its long desired strategic goal to become a full NATO
member state in March 2020. This article sheds light on the peculiarities
associated with the accession process of this ...small and impoverished country, and
the unique criteria it had to fulfill in order to finally achieve its desire to join
NATO. The key questions that are addressed include the following: Does
Macedonia’s membership bring peace and progress to the troublesome region?
What does membership mean in terms of internal cleaveages, especially
concerning socio-economic and inter-ethnic difficulties? The key premise is that
NATO membership would not enhance the country’s transformation to the better;
membership came at too high a cost, which may instigate an even greater
instability.
The objective of this paper is to outline and analyse the manner in which governments on the EU's south-eastern periphery (i.e. the Western Balkans) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and its ...possible after-effects. The author seeks to shed light on three particular aspects of the crisis: the (de)securitization process of COVID-19, the geopolitics of the EU enlargement process in the post-corona world, and the Balkan way of dealing with the pandemic. Following a prologue that tries to decipher what is behind the façade of this dramatic episode, the article proceeds to characterize both the securitization of COVID-19 and the “gaslighting turnaround”. It then looks at the Balkan version of the so-called “COVID-1984”, i.e. the autocratic tendencies that have blossomed amid (and thanks to) strong security concerns.
The paper focuses on the foreign policy-making and choices of a small and weak state, i.e. the Republic of Macedonia. The article revolves around a set of questions defining the smallness and ...weakness of small states in the international relations. Then it proceeds to analyze foreign policy choices and decisions of the Macedonian state since 1991. The basic hypothesis is that not only smallness is important but also the weakness of a state. Quasi-protectorates in the post-Yugoslav region can hardly afford any independent foreign policy goals and means. The link between the internal (in)stability and external interventions (international statebuilding) determines an overwhelming dependency syndrome, which predestines the affiliation of these states to the West. The rhetoric of the advancement of the New East (newly empowered Russia and China) serve only as a factor of fear that strengthens the grip of the Western alliances and organizations.
The paper examines genealogy of privatization of security in the Republic of Macedonia since the state gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The basic premise is that the process has been ...complex including both external and internal factors but also it was affected by the developments that shaped the Macedonian statehood and influenced them in return. The article singles out three research questions: what were the causes of privatization of security? What shapes it has taken during the long process of democratic transition? What have been the consequences of the 2001 intra-state conflict on the privatization of security and vice versa? The starting hypothesis is that failure to achieve a satisfactory level of democratic governance during the last 25 years predetermined the state of affairs in the sphere of private security, and vice versa - the blended boundaries between State, party/parties and business interests resulted into privatization of both State institutions and security structures (be they public or private). The Macedonian case represents an adequate example of a failed democratization with perverted privatization of power and security.
The paper focuses on the legitimacy crisis in Macedonia through the prism of two contradictory tendencies: on one hand, for years international state-building has had democratic institution-building ...as a priority rather than building capacities for democratic policies; on the other hand, the upsurge of social movements and protests in 2014-2015 questioned not only the legitimacy of those on power but also demanded radical shift of the political and social agenda. The protracted political crisis (2012-2015) has demonstrated the contradictory nature of the top-bottom and bottom-up political tendencies. The system that had been set up through exclusive input of the political elites under the auspices of the international community is now challenged by new participatory political forms of citizens’ engagement. The key question set in this paper reads: is Macedonian Spring possible under the constraints of the international state-building and what effect would one expect from such a political turnabout?
The Brexit has been just one practical expression of the numerous disintegrative movements that engulfed the EU. It has offered a unique opportunity for questioning the TINA principle both in the ...European core and its periphery. The paper aims at elaborating the Left case against the EU, and particularly the Lexit, as it is seen generally and from the position of the left-wing movements in Europe and the Balkans. The paper focuses on a few key questions: what is the meaning of ‘L/Exit’? What are the key arguments of the leftwing critique of the EU? If another (progressive) Europe is possible, where is the place of the Balkans in that new architecture? These issues have gained in urgency and importance especially since the 2019 October summit of the EU when the enlargement policy has been put on hold due to the French ‘Non’ to Albania and Macedonia.
This article critically examines international state-building efforts through (imposed constitutions) and constitutional revisions, a phenomenon that gains a reinvigorated significance in the modern ...world. The analysis differentiate the constitutions octroyées (imposed constitutions) and constitutional engineering. The empirical focus is on the peculiar Macedonian case study. The main hypothesis is that the recent constitutional history (1991-2021) involves both phenomena with a disastrous outcome of an unfinished state: what started as constitutional engineering has ended up with imposed constitutional changes, thus gradually diminishing and cancelling popular sovereignty. The process is ongoing, and the perspectives of the state are grim and paradoxical: more constitutional changes, fewer statehood elements.
The article focuses on the impact of the bila- teral Treaty between Skopje and Sofia (2017) on academic freedom of history research in N. Macedonia. It starts with the elaboration of the wider problem ...of the marriage of convenience between politics and academia, followed by que- stioning if historical research is possible under the grip of geopolitics. The central part argues that the current political and legal framework curtail the freedom of research for the sake of the ‘greater good’. To sum up, the Macedonian historiography is subject to unconcealed external control that challenges its existence as a genuine academic discipline.
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