The Republic of North Macedonia, erstwhile Macedonia traces its history back to the ancient Greek time in around 333 BCE. The land was ruled by Alexander the Great, who conquered a massive territory covering almost entire the Middle East and touching India. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian empire was ruled by the Roman empire, the Byzantine empire and then by the Ottoman empire.
Macedonia was under the Ottoman rule for around 550 years when finally it was separated in the 1912 Balkan War. The state of Yugoslavia was formed after the disintegration of the USSR in 1989. In the early 1990s, a series of ethnic and religious differences sifted civil war in Yugoslavia. Six to seven countries, namely Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo were formed in successive years.
In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence following which Macedonia separated. Bosnia and Herzegovina split afterwards and later by 2006, the last of the fragments too broke away to form separate nations of Serbia and Montenegro.
The location of North Macedonia. Image Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17550407
North Macedonia has a mixed ethnic makeup due to its long culturally rich history. Around 61.1% of Macedonians are Orthodox Christians, 36.6% are Muslims and around 1.4% follow other religions followed by 0.4% of Roman Catholics. The country relates its cultural identity to Alexander the Great and his vast empire. However, Greece seeks to challenge this association. This suspends the citizens in a dilemma and a sort of denial from relating their culture to a common past.
The country is currently in the process of making endeavours to become a part of the European Union. Unfortunately, it has been facing opposition from Greece, wherein, Greece had demanded the country to change its name. After a series of negotiations and talks of both the nations' parliaments and subsequent 'Prespa' agreement, the nation changed its name to 'The Republic of North Macedonia' in February 2019.
The Greeks were adamant about changing the name. One might think, 'What's in a Name?' This mattered so much to the Greeks because there is a region in Greece called Macedonia which leads to the further quest for the association of their historical past to the rule of Alexander the Great. This lead to the opposition from Greece to the application submitted by North Macedonia in the EU for membership.
The statue of 'Alexander the Great in Skopje, capital of North Macedonia.
As per the Greeks, North Macedonia has committed 'cultural theft' of its rich and valuable history by wrongly associating with Alexander and his empire which naming the country. This seemingly petty issue and adamancy have had heavy repercussions on North Macedonia as it has not been able to be an EU member. This significantly affects, in the purview of the global development paradigm, the position of North Macedonia and its domestic and international development- all because of 'the name'.