Sašo Ordanoski

The issue of organized crime and corruption arguably remains the greatest stumbling block in convincing the European Union to expand into the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine. One of the most serious attempts to address these issues in recent years was the establishment in 2015 of the Macedonian Special Public Prosecutor’s Office (Специјално јавно обвинителство, SЈO). Over a four-year period, the SJO raised hopes that the then Republic of Macedonia would engage in a sustained campaign to uncover the extent of malfeasance and manipulation at the heart of the political process. The demise of the SJO is a critical case study. Its very creation threatened to pull up the deep roots that corrupt networks have put down over the past 30 years. The political effort which those networks brought to bear to ensure its demise in the face of public support for the SJO is an object lesson in how and why autocratic structures in Europe ward off threats to their attempts to secure political hegemony. The SJO was the most concerted attempt to meet these challenges and the reasons for its failure (which Sašo Ordanoski hopes to establish through this research) will be a valuable research tool for countries in the region with a similar profile to North Macedonia.

Entering its tenth year in power in 2015, the current Macedonian government has built a staggering trail of undemocratic practices. This case provides plentiful material and political evidence on how an ideologically “empty” populist regime can divert a small country from its journey towards democracy onto a road leading to autocracy and corruption. Through a series of journalistic articles the author will analyze political reasons, instruments and key ideas that guided Macedonian rightist populist model.