The decentralization process in the Republic of Macedonia has been widely regarded
as a success story by regional and international actors alike. It is frequently
considered a suitable non-territorial model of ethnic conflict management that can be
replicated elsewhere. By increasing the number of competences administered at the
municipal level, in addition to replicating the central government’s system of
consociational power-sharing locally, the reforms seek to provide local, culturally
diverse communities with greater control over the management of their own affairs
and resources. This paper will begin with a theoretical discussion of how municipal
decentralization may offer an institutional solution for managing and preserving
cultural diversity within unitary states. It will seek to position Macedonia’s
decentralization reforms within the ongoing theoretical debate between integrationists
and accommodationists, and will offer some initial observations on how the reform’s
implementation thus far have diverged from the original intentions of the Ohrid
Framework Agreement.