Macedonia was the only Yugoslavian republic
to make a peaceful transition to statehood at
the time of the federation’s collapse. Yet tensions
between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians
over the constitutional design of the state meant
it remained vulnerable to violence, to which
it succumbed in 2001. Civil war was averted
with the signing of the Ohrid Framework
Agreement, which promised to distribute
power more evenly between the two. This
settlement is portrayed in opposing extremes: by
Macedonians, as a prelude to the demise of the
country; by Albanians and the international
community, as a guarantor of its existence.
This paper eschews such interpretations. While
it remains the best solution for preserving Macedonia’s inter-ethnic equilibrium and
facilitating its integration into Euro-Atlantic
institutions, the Framework Agreement is not
without flaw. Above all, it has marginalised
smaller ethnic communities, embedding a de
facto bi-national state in which Macedonians
and Albanians predominate politically over all
others.