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Macedonia: Local Government Efficiency and Ethnic Fragmentation

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Fiscal Decentralisation, Local Government and Policy Reversals in Southeastern Europe

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Abstract

Since its independence in 1991, Macedonia has experienced three distinct periods of decentralisation. This chapter presents the process of territorial organisation in Macedonia during these three periods, as well as the trends and developments of the revenues, expenditures, and the horizontal equalisation design. The third period, beginning in 2005, gained momentum following the post-Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) new Constitution and was marked by an ethno-political impact on the efficiency of public service delivery at the local government level. The analysis shows that the expensive preferential policies adopted during decentralisation in post-OFA Macedonia might not be matched with the level of development of the social capital in the country.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Law on Local Government, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 60/1995.

  2. 2.

    Law on Territorial Organisation, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 49/1996.

  3. 3.

    Law on Local Self-Government, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 05/2002.

  4. 4.

    Law on Territorial Organisation, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 55/2004.

  5. 5.

    Law on Financing Local Government, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 61/2004.

  6. 6.

    The first post-independence Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia 1991/52) was promulgated at the session of the Macedonian Assembly on the 17 November 1991. Retrieved October 20, 2016 from http://www.slvesnik.com.mk/Issues/67DD2F3F5BB14EB4ADB0BB89FBFC9522.pdf.

  7. 7.

    Law on Territorial Organisation, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 49/1996.

  8. 8.

    Law on Territorial Organisation, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 55/2004.

  9. 9.

    Law on the City of Skopje, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 55/2004.

  10. 10.

    Law on Local Government, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 05/2002.

  11. 11.

    The 2001 GDP decline was due to the ethnic clashes.

  12. 12.

    There is a growing literature on ethnicity and decentralisation in these countries (Ackermann, 2001; Bojicic-Dzelilovic, 2011; Koneska, 2012; Loew, 2013; Lyon, 2011; Monteux, 2006; Siljanovska-Davkova, 2007).

  13. 13.

    Previously, under the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974, the preamble had defined Macedonia as a nation of the Macedonian people, as well as that of the Albanian and Turkish minorities.

  14. 14.

    The practice of a government established by the winning ethnic Macedonian political party and the winning ethnic Albanian political party in Macedonia together with minorities having the right to veto laws related to culture, language, and education; the equitable representation principle in the public administration gives Macedonian democracy characteristics of a consociational democracy (Vankovska, 2007).

  15. 15.

    Law on the Committee for Communities’ Relations, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 150/2007.

  16. 16.

    Even though the new Law on Local Self-Government was enacted 2002, the proper finances came to be defined and regulated with the new Law on Financing Local Self-Government in 2004.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Economic Analyses, Skopje, Macedonia

    Marjan Nikolov

  2. International Slavic University, Skopje, Macedonia

    Marjan Nikolov

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  1. Marjan Nikolov
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, European Institute, London, UK

    William Bartlett

  2. University of Graz, Graz, Steiermark, Austria

    Sanja Kmezić

  3. Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration, Belgrade, Serbia

    Katarina Đulić

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Nikolov, M. (2018). Macedonia: Local Government Efficiency and Ethnic Fragmentation. In: Bartlett, W., Kmezić, S., Đulić, K. (eds) Fiscal Decentralisation, Local Government and Policy Reversals in Southeastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96092-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96092-0_7

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96091-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96092-0

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