Suchergebnisse

The unexpected escalation of interethnic violence in Macedonia in spring 2001 has a long history in the previous times of socialist Yugoslavia. Particularly in the 1980s, interethnic relations worsened further. The main basis of the radicalization on both sides is constituted by a nearly total segregation of the Albanian & the Macedonian society as well as the precedence of collective ethnic rights at the expense of individual rights, supported by the Yugoslav political system. While the conflict could be kept within reasonable bounds during the first years of independence under the conditions of limited political pluralization, ethnic tensions broke out again after the Kosovo war. Adapted from the source document.

Greek identity & territorial integrity have come to be associated with the Macedonian debate to such a degree that it has been maintained that use of Macedonia as a state name would endanger the peace & stability of the Balkan region. Although the region of Macedonia did not exist until 1913, it became Hellenized in the 1920s through the first great population exchange of the 20th century. Through WWII, the subsequent Greek civil war, & eventual reconciliation of Greece & Yugoslavia, Greece has continued to fear a threat from the North & external interference. These concerns have not been alleviated in the failure to deal with the Cyprus question & nationalist aspirations in Skopje. Nonetheless, the irrationality of some of the claims & a parliamentary vote will finally enable the conflict to be put to rest. L. Kehl

Der Autor des vorliegenden Beitrags untersucht die Motive, die Griechenland zu einer Konfrontationshaltung gegenüber Mazedonien veranlassen. Aus der Darstellung des historischen Verlaufs des griechisch-mazedonischen Konfliktes destilliert er Thesen, die die Befindlichkeit der griechischen Gesellschaft verständlicher machen. Die außenpolitische Bedeutung des Konfliktes verblaßt gegenüber der innenpolitischen Wirkung, die jede bisherige Mazedonien-Krise hatte. Teile der politischen Elite formierten sich im Verlauf der neueren Geschichte um diesen Konflikt. Es wird gezeigt, daß das Versagen von Modernisierungsanstrengungen über Systemgrenzen hinweg in blinden Nationalismus führen kann. Das Zusammenspiel gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Versagens radikalisiert den latent bestehenden Nationalismus, sobald das Gefühl der Bedrohung kultureller und nationaler Identität um sich greift. (SH2)