“CITIZENS FOR MACEDONIA” – FROM CITIZEN MOBILIZATION TO DEMOCRATIZATION?
“CITIZENS FOR MACEDONIA” – FROM CITIZEN MOBILIZATION TO DEMOCRATIZATION?

Summary/Abstract: During its 25 years of independence, the Macedonian society has faced democratic turmoil many times. Still, there is a general belief that since the beginning of 2015, Macedonia has entered in its biggest social and political crisis. Following the release of the wiretapped conversations by the president of the largest opposition party in Macedonia – SDSM, Zoran Zaev, a group of citizens and party activists occupied the space in front of the Macedonian Government, asking for resignation from Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Protestors claimed that the Macedonian Government has lost its legitimacy to govern, and asked for immediate rebuilding of the Macedonian institutions. These actions have created the biggest political cleavage in Macedonian history. The main purpose of the paper is to examine current and future movement related outcomes, and its capacity to push for power change. Secondly, the paper defines the genesis of the movement and classifies it as type of social/political movement. Lastly, it portrays possibilities for larger citizen mobilization for wider social restoration of Macedonian society in the future. From a theoretical perspective, the paper presents cutting edge literature review analyzing contemporary concepts of social movements and citizen mobilization. Regarding the methodological approach, I apply a combination of thorough document analysis and indepth interviewing. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with movement stakeholders.

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