Macedonian security crossroad in 21 century, contemporary security challenges

• Main Authors: Mladen Trajkov, Aleksandar Nacevski, Valentiva Vchkova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje 2017-12-01
• Series: Bezbednosni Dijalozi
• Subjects: security challenges; geopolitical crossroad; macedonia
• Online Access: http://periodica.fzf.ukim.edu.mk/sd/SD%2008.2%20(2017)/SD%2008.2.06%20Trajkov,%20M.%20&%20Nacevski,%20A.%20&%20Vckova,%20V.%20-%20Macedonian%20security.pdf

The article aims at an analysis of the security challenges that the Republic of Macedonia has been facing at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21 century. The basic premise is that these contemporary challenges are a product of the geopolitical position of the Balkans as a crossroad between East and West and the mutual impact of the clashing interests of East and West. Starting with the analysis of the geopolitical challenges in the Balkans and Macedonia, we move towards the presentation of the contemporary security challenges, such as terrorism, cyber terrorism, drugs, and weapons trafficking, recruitment in foreign armies, and the refugee crisis. The internal security challenges are presented in the third part of the article in more depth. Finally, we present ways and possibilities for prevention and/or dealing with these contemporary challenges.