ABSTRACT
This chapter charts Macedonia’s struggle for survival in the 1990s in an insecure environment, and argues that the eruption of armed conflict in 2001 did not mean that all efforts to build peace and democracy there had failed in the end. The fact that the fighting was relatively brief and not nearly as destructive in terms of inter-ethnic relations as the ones in Bosnia and Kosovo can at least in part be attributed to the decade-long experience of developing a democratic system, although the regime that did emerge over these years was, as in most other postcommunist democracies, in many ways beset with problems. In comparison with numerous other multi-ethnic countries undergoing transition from communist rule in the Balkans, Macedonia succeeded above expectations to develop democratic institutional structures and a human rights framework that, on paper at least, met Western standards.
