Rolf Strootman brings together various aspects of court culture in the Macedonian empires of the post-Achaemenid Near East. During the Hellenistic Period (c. 330-30 BCE), Alexander the Great and his ...successors reshaped their Persian and Greco-Macedonian legacies to create a new kind of rulership that was neither 'western' nor 'eastern' and would profoundly influence the later development of court culture and monarchy in both the Roman West and Iranian East. Drawing on the socio-political models of Norbert Elias and Charles Tilly, After the Achaemenids shows how the Hellenistic dynastic courts were instrumental in the integration of local elites in the empires, and the (re)distribution of power, wealth, and status. It analyses the competition among courtiers for royal favour and the, not always successful, attempts of the Hellenistic rulers to use these struggles to their own advantage.
In this ground-breaking work on the Ottoman town of Manastir (Bitola), Robert Mihajlovski, provides a detailed account of the development of Islamic, Christian and Sephardic religious architecture ...and culture as it manifested in the town and precincts.
Ethnonationalist Conflict in Postcommunist Statesinvestigates why some Eastern European states transitioned to new forms of governance with minimal violence while others broke into civil war. In ...Bulgaria, the Turkish minority was subjected to coerced assimilation and forced expulsion, but the nation ultimately negotiated peace through institutional channels. In Macedonia, periodic outbreaks of insurgent violence escalated to armed conflict. Kosovo's internal warfare culminated in NATO's controversial bombing campaign. In the twenty-first century, these conflicts were subdued, but violence continued to flare occasionally and impede durable conflict resolution. In this comparative study, Maria Koinova applies historical institutionalism to conflict analysis, tracing ethnonationalist violence in postcommunist states to a volatile, formative period between 1987 and 1992. In this era of instability, the incidents that brought majorities and minorities into dispute had a profound impact and a cumulative effect, as did the interventions of international agents and kin states. Whether the conflicts initially evolved in peaceful or violent ways, the dynamics of their disputes became self-perpetuating and informally institutionalized. Thus, external policies or interventions could affect only minimal change, and the impact of international agents subsided over time. Regardless of the constitutions, laws, and injunctions, majorities, minorities, international agents, and kin states continue to act in accord with the logic of informally institutionalized conflict dynamics. Koinova analyzes the development of those dynamics in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Kosovo, drawing on theories of democratization, international intervention, and path-dependence as well as interviews and extensive fieldwork. The result is a compelling account of the underlying causal mechanisms of conflict perpetuation and change that will shed light on broader patterns of ethnic violence.
Macedonia Phillips, John; Munck, Victor C. De; Risteski, Ljupcho
2012, 20020101
eBook
Macedonia is a Balkan powder-keg ready to explode. A bloody rebellion by Albanian guerrillas demanding equal rights to the dominant Slavs in Macedonia killed and wounded hundreds of people, many of ...them innocent civilians, and raised fears that the crisis would suck in surrounding Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria and Greece. International intervention brought an uneasy halt to the internecine blood-letting in the summer of 2001, but rioting by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in spring 2004 led Macedonia to close its borders amid fears that ethnic Albanian rebels might again stir up discontent. Phillips has covered both the fighting on the front-line and the behind-the-scenes diplomatic intrigue in Skopje, showing just how dangerous the instability in Macedonia is for any hope of a lasting peace in the Balkans.Macedonia - Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans has been awarded the Calabria International Journalism Prize 2004.
The Risk of Warfocuses on practices and performances of everyday life across ethnonational borders during the six-month armed conflict in 2001 between Macedonian government forces and the Albanian ...National Liberation Army (NLA)-a conflict initiated by the NLA with the proclaimed purpose of securing greater rights for the Albanian community in Macedonia and terminated by the internationally brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement. Anthropologist Vasiliki P. Neofotistos provides an ethnographic account of the ways middle- and working-class Albanian and Macedonian noncombatants in Macedonia's capital city, Skopje, went about their daily lives during the conflict, when fear and uncertainty regarding their existence and the viability of the state were intense and widespread. Neofotistos finds that, rather than passively observing the international community's efforts to manage the political crisis, members of the Macedonian and Albanian communities responded with resilience and wit to disruptive and threatening changes in social structure, intensely negotiated relationships of power, and promoted indeterminacy on the level of the everyday as a sense of impending war enfolded the capital. More broadly,The Risk of Warhelps us better understand how postindependence Macedonia has managed to escape civil bloodshed despite high political volatility, acute ethno-nationalist rivalries, and unrelenting external pressures exerted by neighboring countries.
Held together by apparatchiks and, later, Tito's charisma, Yugoslavia never really incorporated separate Balkan nationalisms into the Pan-Slavic ideal. Macedonia - frequently ignored by Belgrade - ...had survived centuries of Turkish domination, Bulgarian invasion and Serbian assimilation before it became part of the Yugoslav project in the aftermath of the First World War. Drawing on an extensive analysis of archival material, private correspondence, and newspaper articles, Nada Boskovska provides an arresting account of the Macedonian experience of the interwar years, charting the growth of political consciousness and the often violent state-driven attempts to curb autonomy.
"The Republic of Macedonia is a particularly interesting case-study for analysts of international relations. Its very existence has been contested by its neighbors; its internal balance is delicate. ...Potentially, the country could, however, become a model of stability in a traditionally conflictual region. Dejan Marolov presents an encompassing, in-depth analysis of the country's foreign policy since the break-up of Yugoslavia. He examines relations with neighboring countries, as well as Maced.
Drawing on the latest archaeology, epigraphy and historical interpretation, this major volume presents a survey of ancient Macedon, important parts of which are published by their excavators for the ...first time, including the palace of King Philip II. Archaeologists and historians of the ancient Greek worlds will welcome this milestone in the study of this rapidly changing filed, packed with new information, interpretations and essential bibliography.
Following the defeat of the Greek Army in 1922 by nationalist Turkish forces, the Convention of Lausanne in 1923 specified the first compulsory exchange of populations ratified by an international ...organization. The arrival in Greece of over 1.2 million refugees and their settlement proved to be a watershed with far-reaching consequences for the country. This book examines the exchange of populations and the agricultural settlement in Greek Macedonia of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Asia Minor and the Pontus, Eastern Thrace, the Caucasus, and Bulgaria during the inter-war period. It examines Greek state policy and the role of the Refugee Settlement Commission which, under the auspices of the League of Nations, carried out the refugee resettlement project. Macedonia, a multilingual and ethnically diverse society, experienced a transformation so dramatic that it literally changed its character. The author charts that change and attempts to provide the means of understanding it. The consequences of the settlement of refugees for the ethnological composition of the population, and its political, social, demographic, and economic implications are treated in the light of new archival material. Reality is separated from myth in examining the factors involved in the process of integration of the newcomers and assimilation of the inhabitants — both refugees and indigenous — of the New Lands into the nation-state. The author examines the impact of the agrarian reforms and land distribution and makes an effort to convert the climate of the rural society of Macedonia during the inter-war period. The antagonisms between Slavophone and Vlach-speaking natives and refugee newcomers regarding the reallocation of former Muslim properties had significant ramifications for the political events in the region in the years to come. Other recurring themes in the book include the geographical distribution of the refugees, changing patterns of settlement and toponyms, the organisation of health services in the countryside, as well as the execution of irrigation and drainage works in marshlands. The book also throws light upon and analyses the puzzling mixture of achievement and failure which characterizes the history of the region during this transitional period. As the first successful refugee resettlement project of its kind, the ‘refugee experiment’ in Macedonia could provide a template for similar projects involving refugee movements in many parts of the world today.
Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as in FYR Macedonia, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the ...majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. The risks of climate change to agriculture in FYR Macedonia cannot be effectively dealt withand the opportunities cannot be effectively exploitedwithout a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and making needed investments in infrastructure, support services and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis, consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts, and investments in both human and physical capital. The experience of FYR Macedonia, highlighted in this work, shows that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectivesone that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this study is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on "win-win" or "no regrets" solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for farmers in FYR Macedonia. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing The Vulnerability of FYR Macedonia's Agricultural Systems to Climate Change: Impact Assessment and Adaptation Options applies this approach to the FYR Macedonia with the goal of helping the country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programs, and
investments. The study projects impacts of climate change on agriculture across FYR Macedonias three agro-ecological areas through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns so crucial to farming. It offers a map for navigating the risks and realizing the opportunities, outlined through a series of consultations with local farmers. A detailed explanation of the approach is provided for those who would like to implement similar programs in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world. This is one of four country studies that were produced under the World Banks program, "Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in European and Central Asian Agricultural Systems". The other countries included in this series are Albania, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. The results from the four studies are consolidated in the book Looking Beyond the Horizon: How Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Responses Will Reshape Agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia website.
