Institutional Responses to Radicalization and Violent Extremism in North Macedonia (2017-2022)

This article aims to test a preassigned set of drivers of radicalization and violent extremism (VE) at the macro-level of North Macedonia: that is, institutions and institutional responses. The drivers are developed by the H2020: CONNEKT (Context of Violent Extremism in MENA and Balkan Societies) project team. The article dwells upon the new institutionalism theory and triangulates 22 expert interviews with a close reading of the official documents and specialized reports about the state. Drawing upon those materials, we discuss the policy shift towards several of the so-called non-traditional drivers of radicalization and VE. Ultimately, the expert interviews showcased that the latest preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) policy changes in North Macedonia suffer from a lack of consensual understanding of the main operational categories and a weak efficiency and implementation of both the national strategy and the relevant action plans.