Fiscal Decentralisation and Ethnic Politics in Macedonia

Abstract

Competing ethno-centered strategies over the local fiscal resources can seriously undermine political and economic stability of ethnically diverse societies. This study investigates the causal link between ethnic diversity and local government finances by focusing on the case of Macedonia. In particular: whether fiscal decentralization is used as a part of broader strategy for prevention and mitigation of inter-ethnic conflicts. The main argument is that low level of political culture and inter-ethnic tensions are frustrating the development of the government policy along a course of decentralization. The study confronts two emerging scenarios regarding decentralization and inter-ethnic relations. The first scenario puts the economic development at the forefront for country’s stability and treats decentralisation as a driving force to achieve this goal. Ethnic problems are expected to be solved along this path as rising economic stability reduces the inter-ethnic tensions. In the second scenario, the inter-ethnic stability is the main pillar of the country’s stability, which is expected to be accomplished through decentralisation. The paper analyses and synthesizes pros and cons of two scenarios from administrative, legal, political and economic perspectives.

From adversaries to allies: ethnic gerrymandering and ethnic party behaviour in local elections in Macedonia

“…In many municipalities, the proportion of Albanians increased because of the 2004 reforms; in the capital Skopje, the percentage of Albanians increased from approximately fifteen per cent to just over twenty per cent, which placed the size of the Albanian population above the twenty per cent threshold necessary to make Albanian an official language in the capital (Friedman ). The creation of 84 municipalities was meant to be a compromise between the large number of municipalities as a result of the 1996 reconfiguration and the smaller number of municipalities that existed prior to 1996 (Maksimovska, Stojkov and Schmidt ).…”

“…In regard to the municipal council, there are a varying number of seats on each council depending on the size of the population, and seats are allocated using proportional electoral rules and the D'Hondt electoral formula. In the capital Skopje, the local government has a two‐tiered structure, as voters select the mayor and city council for Skopje as well as the mayor and council for their municipality in Skopje (Maksimovska, Stojkov and Schmidt ) . The following section discusses post‐conflict territorial reorganisation in Macedonia in more detail.…”

Implementation of Monitoring of the Quality of Public Services at the Local Level as a Tool for Reforming Public Administration – The Polish Experience

“…A whole spectrum of activities is undertaken at the operational level as part of the reform of public administration in European post-communist countries. On the one hand, they are fundamental in nature and include such processes as: -changes in the administrative division (Vanags and Vilka, 2006;Meyer-Sahling and Yesilkagit, 2011); -decentralization (Davey and Péteri, 2006;Maksimovska, Stojkov and Schmidt, 2015;Tikhomirov, 2013); -division into "optimal" municipalities (Campbell and Coulson, 2006;Kuczabski, Zastavetska and Zastavetskyy, 2017).…”