The Republic of North Macedonian Foreign Policy in the Context of Regional Security Policy in the Balkans

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to identify the features of the foreign policy of the Republic of North Macedonia in the context of a regional Security Complex Formation with a determining role of external actors based on the analysis of the State's foreign policy activities evolution. Regional security complexes are formed by a group of states whose primary security interests are so closely interrelated that their national security cannot be considered in isolation from each other. The processes taking place in the selected states are related to macro-regional development and cannot be considered in isolation from civilizational, confessional and other factors, considering economic and political globalization, new challenges and threats. The events taking place in North Macedonia are closely interlinked with regional processes, within which the state builds its foreign policy aimed at solving domestic political problems, preserving the stability of the political system and the stability of socio-economic development. At the same time, the foreign policy vector of Macedonia is built in accordance with the region-wide context and inextricably linked with ensuring security in the Balkan region. Within the evolution of foreign policy of Republic of North Macedonia five distinct periods can be identified between 1991 to 2020. In each of these periods, the most pressing problems related to the implementation of the main idea of the state's declared foreign policy, integration into the European Union and NATO, were solved. By 2020, these plans had begun to be implemented and together with other countries in the region and the active participation of external actors, North Macedonia is becoming an organic part of the emerging security complex. This complex is characterized by a high degree of interdependence of the region's states. It includes a stable system of regional relationships and interconnections of a structural and spatial nature of various types including political, economic, cultural and historical. Such system allows the region to act as a subsystem towards the international environment.