Macedonia’s Nationals, Minorities and Refugees in the Post-Communist Labyrinths of Citizenship

The paper provides an overview of the evolution of the Macedonian citizenship regime in view of the political and social transformation processes since 1945 and in particular after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. By arguing that the different stages in the development of the citizenship regime were significantly conditioned by the wider context and external international factors, the paper seeks to capture the interplay between the internal socio-political and institutional changes, regional developments and the understanding of citizenship. This paper includes a historical account of citizenship policies on the territory of Macedonia since the Ottoman Empire, a detailed analysis of the current citizenship regime, as well as an overview of the current citizenship-related political debates.