Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.72.4.02
Social Contract in the Context of International Statebuilding in the Balkans: The Case of Macedonia
Biljana Vankovska
orcid.org/0000-0002-9215-4183
; Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, R. N. Macedonia
Abstract
On the thirtieth anniversary of gaining independence and agency in international relations, the question of the foundation of the Macedonian state is still open. The paper aims to analyze the philosophical and political issue of the social contract that forms the basis of the Macedonian political community. The analysis focuses on the fundamental values of the political order embedded in the 1991 Constitution and its subsequent amendments until 2019. The key hypothesis is that the modern Macedonian polity rests on a series of (often contradictory) ‘social contracts’. Their peculiarity derives from the fact that they have rarely reflected the ‘general will’ of the political community. Instead, the agents of the international state-building process have more often been in the position to substitute the people’s will for the sake of peace and democracy. The tentative conclusion is that the Macedonian polity rests on shaky (constitutional, political and societal) ground that indicates an unfinished statehood.
Keywords
social contract; constitution; state-building; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kosovo; Macedonia
Hrčak ID:
281830
URI
Publication date:
1.9.2022.
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