Perception, Interest, and Engagement: Albanian Participation in North Macedonia's Bilateral Issues [before doctoral defense]

Kivonat, rövid leírás

The 35-year-long political history of North Macedonia,1 from the perspective of international relations and security studies, encapsulates more than just bilateral issues and interethnic dynamics. Although these two themes, seemingly unrelated, have dominated and continue to shape academic discourse, scholarship has so far failed to highlight their interconnectedness and has not approached foreign affairs through a minority-focused lens either. The separation of these themes, mainly stemming from the methodological necessity of simplification, has created theoretical and empirical gaps that this dissertation aims to address. The dissertation is situated at the intersection of security and area studies within the broader discipline of international relations. More precisely, its theoretical framework, main concepts, and notions rely on the epistemological broadening of post-bipolar security studies, while its scope and findings enrich the field of Balkan studies. It examines perceptions, interests and engagement of North Macedonia’s Albanian political corpus regarding Euro-Atlantic integration and bilateral issues with Greece and Bulgaria. The research, by making Albanians its referent object, explores the intersection of security, interethnic relations and foreign affairs in a multination-state, such as North Macedonia, and offers a minority-centered perspective on the country’s external disputes and western integration.