To resist or not to resist: “Skopje 2014” and the politics of contention in North Macedonia

ABSTRACT The urban project “Skopje 2014” was not particularly welcomed by citizens, however, despite the popular discontentment, and controversial implementation, it did not instigate mass resistance at its outset. We analyze the role of social activism, the state's deployed strategy of coercion, and the inability to form a broader unity to contest the project at its outset. Subsequently, we contextualize the project within the social movements that emerged between 2013-2016. By juxtaposing two periods, we explain why mass resistance occurred in 2016 but not at the project's outset, analyzing the activist scene, the political landscape and the nature of the regime.