Ethnic - military relations in Macedonia

Abstract

The chapter spells out the dilemma of what matters more in a transitional society: civil-military relations or ethnic-military relations. The former are concerned with the relationship between the military and politics, and the latter with ethnically tailored and balanced relationships between ethnic groups within security sector structures. How does one reconcile the requirements for professionalism and merit with ethnically defined criteria when shaping security forces? This only mirrors the challenges of building liberal democracies in divided societies.