Description: In months of October and November 2014, Jasmina Trajkoska and Josipa
Rizankoska conducted a research project in the field of inter-ethnic relations, party politics and
Macedonia’s EU integration.
Two separate papers have been published out of the findings of this research project and one
presentation at the ASEN Conference at the London School of Economics in April 2015 has
been done.
Methodology:
The research was based on thirty face-to- face semi-structured interviews with representatives
coming from 27 political parties from Macedonia.
The criteria for selection of the interviewees are twofold. Firstly, the selection criteria for the
political parties is based on a simple rule of “the more the better”, which implies possible
inclusion of all existing parties in Macedonia. Aside from the 9 “Macedonian” parties (parties
that are mostly supported by ethnic-Macedonians), five Albanian, three Turkish, three Bosniak,
two Vlach, two Roma, two Serbian and one Torbeshi parties were included. Secondly, given that
the questions of the interview address the interethnic relations in Macedonia, the main criteria for
selection of the interviewee coming from a single party was that the respondent is among the
highest party representatives, and she/he is in depth informed about the party’s official standing
points with regards the field of analysis. The final decision of the interviewees was made upon
an agreement among the authors and the parties. Among the high rank party representatives there
are Party Leaders, Members of Parliament, Ministers, Former Ambassadors, and a former Prime
Minister of Macedonia.
Results:
1. Conference paper presentation at ASEN Conference- LSE. Program
2. Published analysis on topic “The EU as a factor of stability and a promoter of good interethnic
relations in Macedonia.” (find the paper in section ‘Library/Publications in our web page)
3. Published analysis on topic "The Ohrid Framework Agreement: a strategic tool for electoral
party competition in Macedonia ". (find the paper in section ‘Library/Publications in our web
page)
