This chapter intends to outline the place of Macedonia in the nation-building process that took place in South-East Europe with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Macedonia became the place where national aspirations converged and came into conflict with each other. This gave it a special role in the national narratives of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece both internally and in foreign politics. The (federal) Macedonian state that emerged after WWII sought to carve out its own trajectory in a space that was already occupied physically and ideologically by its neighbours. This led to a conflict that lurked under the surface for most of the Cold War but came out in the open with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The chapter seeks to clarify some of the central issues related to Macedonian nationality and minorities in the Balkan and European context.

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