Common Contracts

Language and Identity: The Ohrid Framework Agreement and Liberal Notions of Citizenship and Nationality in Macedonia

May 21st, 2002

• Filed
  May 21st, 2002

This paper focuses on the repercussions the Ohrid Framework Agreement and the subsequent constitutional changes in Macedonia will have on the development of the political identity of this country. First, a short overview is offered of the circumstances in which this accord was made and a comparison is made to the provisions of the old Macedonian constitution adopted in 1991. More specifically, a close analysis is offered of the changes in Macedonia’s paramount legal document in so far as they pertain to the contested issues of language and identity. It is argued that the changes to the constitution put forward a political identity of the country that can best be described as ‘millet’ or ‘ethnic’ Macedonia. When compared to a liberal theoretical framework, it is further argued that the constitutional amendments envisioned by the agreement in Ohrid do not fully support a liberal understanding of the Macedonian political nation and the equality of all its citizens. The new amendments rath