This article argues that a fusion of security and democratization concerns from the very start of the
transition process in Macedonia in 1990 locked local nationalist elites and international organizations in a
political dynamic that prioritizes security over democratization concerns. This dynamic has led to little
progress in the implementation of human and minority rights until 2009, despite heavy EU involvement in
Macedonia after the 2001 internal warfare. The effects of this dynamic are overlooked by scholarship on
Eastern Europe enlargement, making generalizations based on assumptions relevant for the democratization
of countries in Eastern Europe, but not for the Western Balkans.