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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 25:3 (2026) ► pp.430–458

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No one needs to teach Macedonians what Europe is

Macedonian opinion makers’ defensive Europeanization of the past amid Bulgaria-North Macedonia bilateral dispute

ORCiD logo with link | Central European University
Published online: 25 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.24229.nik
Abstract
This article examines how Macedonian opinion makers engage in the Europeanization of memory to justify North Macedonia’s Europeanness amid the bilateral dispute with Bulgaria. Drawing on a Discourse-Historical Approach-informed analysis of 43 opinion pieces from 2019 to 2023, the study demonstrates how national narratives are recontextualized, either aligning with or challenging the EU memory regime. By invoking antifascism and Yugoslav socialist modernity, opinion makers construct a European identity based on local historical legacies through what the article conceptualizes as defensive Europeanization via justification. The latter concept highlights how memory actors resist hegemonic narratives, suggesting an alternative understanding of (EU)rope. As a result, the article proposes a new lens by which Europeanization and European identity can be comprehended.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Europeanization of memory and the construction of European identities
  • 3.Method and data
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Justifying North Macedonia’s European identity through the memory of antifascism
    • 4.2Yugoslavia’s socialist modernity in support of North Macedonia’s Europeanness
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (78)
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