“Skopje 2014” – Between Belated Nation-Building and the Challenges of Globalisation A ...

375 Pages·2017·4.34 MB·English

(cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) – Between Belated Nation-Building and the Challenges of Globalisation

A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of doctor philosophiae

to the Department of Political and Social Sciences
of Freie Universität Berlin

by
Zan Ilieski

Berlin, 2017

1
Reviewers:

Prof. Dr. Manuela Boatca
Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
Institute of Sociology
Global Studies Programme

Prof. Dr. Katharina Bluhm
Freie Universität Berlin
Department of Political and Social Sciences
Institute for East-European Studies

Date of defense: 19 July, 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................................................3
SUMMARY...............................................................................................................................................9
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG............................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................16

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..............................................................................................27
Research problem..................................................................................................................................27
Democracy – a contested notion...........................................................................................................34
Democracy and Populism......................................................................................................................41
National identity and Democracy..........................................................................................................47
Insistence on West-Rest dichotomy.........................................................................................47
Eastern Europe and the Balkans..................................................................................48
Other actors in identity and development politics (transnational non-state elites)................49
Constructing national identity in neo-liberal conditions..............................................53
National development and Democracy.................................................................................................57
The argument for authoritarian rule ((cid:858)economic development first(cid:859) school)...........................57
Political culture determinism ((cid:858)political reorganisation(cid:859) first)..................................................62
Research questions................................................................................................................................68
Hypotheses............................................................................................................................................69

CHAPTER 3: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF (cid:862)SKOPJE 2014(cid:863).........................................72
Political and historical context...............................................................................................................72
The period after Macedonia(cid:859)s independence.......................................................................................80
Urban context........................................................................................................................................88
Situational context.................................................................................................................................91
Summary................................................................................................................................................94
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CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY AND METHOD.........................................................................................96
CDA as methodological framework.......................................................................................................96
The principles of CDA according to Wodak...........................................................................................98
Limitations of CDA.................................................................................................................................99
Research design...................................................................................................................................100
The method.........................................................................................................................................101
Macro strategies............................................................................................. .......................101
Linguistic tools........................................................................................................................103
Argumentation analysis..........................................................................................................104
Commemorative public speeches...........................................................................................107
The genre of commemorative speech and myth-making.......................................................107
Data collection.....................................................................................................................................109
Newspapers as a source......................................................................................................................109
Corpus-building from written materials.................................................................................110
Video materials as a source.................................................................................................................114
Corpus-building from video materials (snowballing procedure)............................................116
Documents as source for CDA.............................................................................................................117
Structure of the chapters (a topic and themes oriented study)..........................................................118
Summary..............................................................................................................................................119

CHAPTER 5: ANTIQUISATION POLICY...................................................................................................121
Research question and hypotheses.....................................................................................................121
Governing elite(cid:859)s discourses................................................................................................................124
Antiquisation discourses and mythopoesis.........................................................................................124
Understanding of the national identity statically...................................................................126
Genetic versus cultural foundation of identity...................................................................... 128
Rebirth in 100 Steps............................................................................................................................130
Utilisation of the (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) as a (cid:862)scene(cid:862) for identity change......................................................131
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Pro-government cultural elites(cid:859) discourses.........................................................................................133
Understanding of the national identity statically................................................................................133
Challenging the position of Hellenism in world history..........................................................137
Genetic versus cultural foundation of identity....................................................................................139
Renewal of the nation (ethnie)............................................................................................................148
Desired social identity of the supporters (legitimisation discourses)..................................................153
Summary..............................................................................................................................................158

CHAPTER 6: (cid:862)SKOPJE 2014(cid:863) AS IDENTITY-ALTERATION PROJECT........................................................160
The content and composition of the monuments...............................................................................160
Exaggerated volume and height.............................................................................................163
Inconsistency during the project............................................................................................164
Buildings as elements of the project (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863)...........................................................................166
Disguising the (cid:858)shameful past(cid:859) and subversion of the exiting.................................................167
Belated nation-building using the (cid:858)West(cid:858) as paradigm...........................................................169
Mixing styles and functions....................................................................................................170
Imposing new hegemonic narrative....................................................................................................171
The Museum........................................................................................................................................171
Forgetting the multiethnic setting.......................................................................................................175
The Skopje Fortress (Kale)......................................................................................................177
DUI(cid:859)s hypocrisy.......................................................................................................................178
„Exit(cid:863) strategies and their de-construction............................................................................180
Conclusions..........................................................................................................................................182

CHAPTER 7: A LEGALY CLEAN NATION-BRANDING PROJECT...............................................................186
Research question and hypotheses.....................................................................................................186
Governing elite(cid:859)s discourses................................................................................................................188
Macedonia the most competitive business and manufacturing location in Europe...........................188
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Multidimensionality of the project.........................................................................................190
Modern capitalist thinking and state-of-the-art technology..................................................193
Pro-government cultural elites(cid:859) discourses.........................................................................................194
The reaction of the (cid:862)world(cid:863).................................................................................................................194
Attraction of foreign tourists..................................................................................................194
Winning international competitions.......................................................................................196
Original idea that neighbours copy.........................................................................................197
Comments of respectable international media outlets..........................................................199
Transparency in realisation of (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863).....................................................................................202
Patriotic broom affair.............................................................................................................202
Accountability Report.............................................................................................................205
Authorship of „Skopje 2014(cid:862)..................................................................................................207
Preference of development over democracy......................................................................................209
Summary..............................................................................................................................................213

CHAPTER 8: (cid:862)SKOPJE 2014(cid:863)- A MONEY LAUNDERING PROJECT..........................................................214
The opposition(cid:859)s critique.....................................................................................................................214
Money laundering allegations.............................................................................................................216
Accountability Report revisited..........................................................................................................219
Authorship of „Skopje 2014(cid:862) revisited................................................................................................223
Annexes of the primary contracts.......................................................................................................226
Preference of development over democracy revisited.......................................................................229
Fake development...............................................................................................................................232
Conclusions..........................................................................................................................................235

CHAPTER 9: GOVERNING ELITE(cid:859)S CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY.............................................................239
Grounded debate about Macedonian democracy..............................................................................239
Prime Minister(cid:859)s commemorative addressing bordering hate-speech...............................................241
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Class struggle.......................................................................................................................................247
Tightly controlled and instrumentalised media...................................................................................256
Quasi NGOs..........................................................................................................................................258
Structural populism.............................................................................................................................260
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................264

CHAPTER 10: OPPOSITION'S CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY.....................................................................265
Freedom of expression........................................................................................................................265
Politicisation of art (the common platform of the monuments)............................................267
Rule of law..........................................................................................................................................270
Express and adapted laws......................................................................................................270
Renationalisation................................................................................................................... 272
Voting irregularities in the municipalities...............................................................................276
Failed consociationalism (worsening of the inter-ethnic relations)....................................................285
Conclusions..........................................................................................................................................285

CHAPTER 11: THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION FOR THE MACEDONIAN DEMOCRACY...............288
Interdependence of domestic and international political order.........................................................288
International (European) democracy and domestic democracy.........................................................290
The European Union in the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece.........................291
The behaviour of the Macedonian government in relation to the EU................................................293
Vilification of the political opponent......................................................................................297
Foreign intervention through the opposition.........................................................................299
The attitude of the pro-government cultural elites(cid:859) towards the EU..................................................300
Euroscepticism........................................................................................................................300
Common enemies...................................................................................................................303
The attitudes of the opposition towards the EU.................................................................................305
The role of the EU in the Macedonian democratic developments......................................................309
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Regional policy........................................................................................................................309
Burring the past......................................................................................................................313
Democratic responsibility and tutelage..................................................................................315
EU Reports..............................................................................................................................318
Conclusions..........................................................................................................................................325

CHAPTER 12: CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................329
Significance of the thesis for further studies ......................................................................................338
Conclusions related to practice-oriented debates..............................................................................343

LITERATURE.........................................................................................................................................348
APPENDIX............................................................................................................................................354
ABBREVIATIONS...................................................................................................................................371
PICTURES DIRECTORY..........................................................................................................................372

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SUMMARY
The study focuses on the project (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) in Macedonia, a controversial, expensive, mass
construction project, evidently related to boosting national pride, but also legitimised as nation-
(re)branding venture, aiming to attract tourists and foreign investment in the relatively new country.
Embedded in the policy of (cid:862)antiquisation(cid:863) (new national mythopoesis grounding Macedonian
identity in antiquity), the monuments and the facilities built during short four years period have
created conflicts both within the country, by challenging the old national narrative of the Slavic
origins of present-day Macedonians and complicating the relationships with the ethnic Albanians,
and internationally, by challenging the Greek national myth as a cradle of Western civilization.
The last point is very important having on mind that Greece has vetoed Macedonia(cid:859)s accession to
NATO and the EU for longer than two decades based on the fray over the ancient Macedonian
heritage. Simultaneously, the opposition parties and the press critical of the government have
accused the political entrepreneurs not only of altering the Macedonian identity but also of money
laundering during this most expensive investment in the history of the country, funds later assumed
to be re-directed into election frauds and other means of sustaining power illegally.
The case is especially interesting because the (right-wing) populist tones of the project and the
autocratic implementation of it signal governing elites(cid:859) distrust in pluralist democratic institutions.
Constructivist and legitimisation discourses from the written and visual media further suggest
distrust in the establishment and appeal for majoritarianism. On a longer period, these discursive
practices could lead towards erosion of the democratic institutions of the country. In a meantime
similar projects have appeared in other Western Balkan countries (Albania and Serbia), whose
populist rhetoric suggests possible linkages between these authoritarian regimes and mutual
fascination with autocratic-populist regimes from the wider region (Hungary and Turkey) who are
also engaged in a process of re-definition of national identity by grounding it in distant history. The
deconstruction of the Macedonian case, thus, can be telling of autocratic populism in the region in
general.
I hypothesize that the rhetoric of (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) is autocratic-populist and ask which concrete
negative impacts the project (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) could have on Macedonian democracy. More concretely,
the study tries to answer how the discourses on national identity and development of the
Macedonian governing elite have been incorporated in the project (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) and how, in turn,
the Project and its legitimization has reinforced the existing discourses; how these discourses were
challenged and de-constructed; to which extend the realisation of the project produced contestation
and conflict in the society and with the neighbours; how the EU as main foreign political and
economic partner and monitor of democratisation on the Balkans behaved during this process?
To answer these questions the study draws mainly on Critical Theory (world-system analysis and
critical discourse analysis (CDA)) as theoretical and methodological background. Beside the
phenomenological site of the project (content, size, number of monuments and facilities) I
systematically analyse a large corpus of written texts (four daily newspapers from Macedonia), video
materials (documentary films, TV interviews and TV debates), public and commemorative speeches
delivered by top government officials and documents (reports) issued by different bodies of the
European Union. The study focused on the analysis of the discursive strategies and argumentation
schemes employed by the actors.
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Analyses have shown that (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) has supported and re-enforced on official state level
previously existing right-wing populist ideas of territorial rootedness of the Macedonian nation and
identity in the antiquity. This implied using of naturalisation strategies, (cid:862)proving(cid:863) the continuity of
the nation in the Macedonian soil and blood. The government(cid:859)s identity policy follows the
Occidentalist principles of evolutionism, dualism, and naturalised notion of culture, understanding
the Macedonian, and not the competitive Greek, as the first modern Western civilisation, status that
would granting it the exclusive (cid:862)rights(cid:863) among the (cid:862)civilised(cid:863), western countries, such as the EU
membership. One of the main strategies of (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) was to de-essentialise or systematically
delete the traces of (cid:862)the previous regime(cid:863), thus not problematizing the past through critical
deliberation but forcefully imposing new identity. The repositioning of the Macedonian nation as the
cradle of the Western civilisation in international setting thus went hand in hand with the
reinterpretation of the more recent history of the Macedonian people in regional context. Next to
imposing new national identity other actions related to (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) have also signalled autocratic
behaviour of the current governing elite directed against the pluralist institutions of the country.
Most importantly, the role of the Parliament was undermined in a series of cases. Discursive
practices of the Prime Minister and the party led by him suggested personalisation of power,
equation of (cid:862)the people(cid:863) with (cid:862)the party(cid:863) and the (cid:862)party(cid:863) with the (cid:862)state(cid:863), systematic degradation
of the civil society sector and insulting of the political opponents beyond the norms of contest in
plural democracy.
Of special interest in this thesis is the instrumentalisation of the cultural elites in general and the
media in particular in relation to the processes surrounding (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) and the antiquisation
policy. Most notable is the pattern where the political actors demonstrate cautiousness in
argumentation while the pro-government media actively elaborates and propagates the
governmental elite(cid:859)s ideas. The analysis of the discursive strategies and argumentation schemes
employed by the media actors supports the thesis that the media became (cid:858)one of the constitutive
pillars(cid:859) of the autocratic-populist government in Macedonia.
Both the political and cultural elites have systematically used offensive, counterattacking rhetoric,
simplistic illustrations, victimisation of (cid:858)its own people(cid:859), dramatization and emotionalisation and
perhaps most often calculated ambivalence. One interesting unique feature of Prime Minister(cid:859)s
rhetoric was the maintaining of oppositional language and worm(cid:859)s-eye view even after a decade of
holding the executive power in Macedonia.
The de-construction of (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863) focused on counterfeiting of the national history and identity,
allegations for money laundering, politicisation of art, functionalisation of the project in election
frauds, disrespect of rule of law. An exceptional role in these attempts had not only the critical media
outlets but also the NGOs, providing a mass of information on the project and organising a series of
peaceful protests related to (cid:862)Skopje 2014(cid:863).
The analyses demonstrated that the project was predominantly directed at the domestic audience,
bringing the governing elite short-term victories, but one leading towards long-term societal divisions
and conflicts. The project was carefully planned and systematically implemented, but it was also
consistently criticised and interrupted by the minorities, the opposition and the neighbouring
countries. The study has also demonstrated that responsibility for emergence and sustainability of
the autocratic-populist regime in Macedonia also has the EU, as representative of the core of the
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