COOPTATION, CONCESSIONS, AND THE RISK TO TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY: WHY DO REFORMS INTENSIFY ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICTS?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2025-3-86-97Keywords:
self-determination movements, threats to state territorial integrity, politico-institutional reforms, Montenegro, Serbia, Friulians, North-Macedonian AlbaniansAbstract
This article examines the institutional and agent-related factors behind the failure of concession reforms aimed at meeting the demands of ethnic self-determination movements (SDMs). Using a binary comparative analysis of four cases (Montenegro vs. Serbia, Friuli Venezia Giulia vs. Italy, the Albanian minority vs. North Macedonia, and the Hungarian minority vs. Slovakia), the study examines the politico-historical context, institutional conditions, structure and fragmentation of SDMs, elite dynamics, and cooptation strategies employed by ruling groups. The main focus is placed on the dynamics of interaction between the state and ethnic movements, the electoral and administrative strategies of elites, and the influence of institutional design on either the stability or recurrence of territorial conflict. The author demonstrates that even fully implemented reforms may fail to reduce conflict or threats to territorial integrity when SDMs are highly fragmented, external influence persists, or cooptation is used instrumentally. The study concludes that the complex role of political actors and the institutional context are decisive in the (in)effectiveness of concessionary reforms amidst ethnopolitical tensions.References
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