From September 2011- May 2012 I was (am) on a Fulbright Research Grant to Macedonia. The short story is that, I am looking at non-governmental organizations/civil society and how they work with the government to serve the people of Macedonia. The long story is that I am trying to find the best practices of local NGOs. To find what situations and practices work best to best utilize connections to serve people. Or on the other hand, which NGOs are not successful in Macedonia. While as of 23 Feb 2012 I have reached some conclusions, I have not yet wrote them in a coherent way or publicly.
I do however maintain a research blog, which you can find here: Macedonian Civil Society, Civil Discourse. This chronicles my research (mostly meetings with NGOs) in Macedonia.
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I became interested in Macedonia when I began working on my senior undergraduate research thesis at Florida Atlantic University Honors College. I eventually wrote and published my thesis. My abstract was:
"The European Union (EU) is a unique political/economic body in the world that has created a more integrated union of European states. Yet the structure of the EU remains under debate, as does the existence of the EU itself. Conflict about possible member states, such as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRM) is especially contentious. By examining the FYRM‟s arduous process of gaining admission to the EU this thesis evaluates the effectiveness of the current EU foreign policy."
You can find my thesis online at this address.
