MULTI-ETHNIC COALITION GOVERNMENTS AS PRECONDITION FOR MAINTENANCE OF POLITICAL STABILITY, THE EXAMPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The Republic of Macedonia is constantly facing the challenge to reach democratic standards; establish rule of law; keep peace and stability; lower interethnic tensions; to increase its economic growth and eventually become an EU member state. Macedonian society is multi-ethnic and multicultural. The main pillar of multi-ethnic Macedonia is the Ohrid Framework Agreement. The established political model is based on power-sharing and redistribution of public resources and political power. The system is not a typical consociationalism model but shares many of its characteristics. Ever since Macedonia has become an independent country, multi-ethnic coalitions are a regular occurrence on the Macedonian political stage. They are generally accepted as a factor that provides political stability of the society, although this practice is not legally based. In this paper the case of a shared form of governments in the Republic of Macedonia will be presented. It will be shown that although traditional multi-ethnic coalition governments are not considered to be stable, they are an important part and a necessity in multi-ethnic societies. The conclusions can serve as a ground for maintenance of peace and political stability especially in countries with less developed democratic traditions where more than one community coexist in one state.