MINORITY REPRESENTATION AND MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS
MINORITY REPRESENTATION AND MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS
Contributor(s): István Horváth (Editor), Ibolya Székely (Editor), Tünde Székely (Editor), Márton Tonk (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Political Theory, Political Sciences, Civil Society, Public Administration, Geopolitics
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: autonomy;minority self-government;electoral politics;language rights;language policies;minority representation;
Summary/Abstract: The conference entitled ‘Minority Representation and Minority Language Rights’ (MIREMIR), which has been organized in co-operation with the Department of Juridical Sciences and European Studies of the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, the European Studies Department of the University of Amsterdam and the European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism, has covered two important topics of the minority issues, trying to find an answer for the above formulated question. One of these topics is concerning the problem of minority representation, involving issues related to autonomy and minority self-government, electoral politics and parties. On the other hand, as we can see in this volume, the problem of language rights, of language policies and of the real-life practices of European minorities living inside the EU or in countries willing to become member states of the EU was the second important topic of the conference.
Series: Műhely
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-973-197-083-7
- Page Count: 440
- Publication Year: 2014
- Language: English
From Law to Language Use Practices – A Case Study on Hungarian-Speakers in Austria
From Law to Language Use Practices – A Case Study on Hungarian-Speakers in Austria
(From Law to Language Use Practices – A Case Study on Hungarian-Speakers in Austria)
- Author(s):Hajnalka Berényi-Kiss
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Foreign languages learning
- Page Range:15-40
- No. of Pages:26
- Summary/Abstract:In Austria, there are two substantial Hungarian communities, namely the autochthonous minority of Burgenland and the more recent migrant groups in Vienna. Importantly, the latter have arrived in different waves and from various Hungarian-speaking regions of the Carpathian Basin, which clearly adds to the diversity of the community. In this respect, the Austrian context seems to be quite unique. Both Hungarians in Burgenland and Vienna are formally recognized minorities, yet – due to the fact that Austrian minority rights are not harmonized on various levels – the two groups do not enjoy the same level of protection, which is most dominant with regard to the mother-tongue instruction within the educational system and in the area of official language use. It is also due to these differences that the language use patterns of Hungarian-speakers in Burgenland greatly differ from those living in Vienna. It has further been argued that although the existing regulations of minority language protection in Austria are extensive, their implementation has not been achieved without shortfalls. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to identify how regulations of minority language rights protection influence actual language use practices reported by the speakers themselves. The case study on the Hungarian-speakers in Austria was conducted within the international and interdisciplinary FP7 project ELDIA (European Language Diversity for All).1 The research, having a special focus on the legislative and institutional framework of language use and language use in practice, has shown that there are clear gaps between legal regulations and actual practices. It will be demonstrated that Hungarian-speakers have relatively little opportunity to use Hungarian in the public domains. The language use patterns reported by the informants show that the use of Hungarian is restricted mainly to the home context. Nevertheless, it will be argued that Hungarian has an exceptionally strong presence within the community for there is a clearly identifiable demand and willingness to use the Hungarian language and to develop it to the speakers’ changing needs.
- Price: 4.50 €
Code Switching and Code Mixing of Romanian-Hungarian Bilingual Communities in Transylvania
Code Switching and Code Mixing of Romanian-Hungarian Bilingual Communities in Transylvania
(Code Switching and Code Mixing of Romanian-Hungarian Bilingual Communities in Transylvania)
- Author(s):Eva-Carmen Marton
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:41-58
- No. of Pages:18
- Summary/Abstract:‘Code switching and code mixing in Romanian–Hungarian bilingual communities in Transylvania,’ as the title implies, focuses on the characteristics of the speech of bilingual communities in Transylvania, specifically, the Hungarian minority. Focus is assigned to the phenomena of code mixing and code switching. Given the number of different opinions in the linguistic community on the phenomena, an all-agreed upon definition is not yet available; thus, the different points of view are discussed and analyzed based on examples. The examples given are abstracted from recorded conversations of bilingual speakers. Based on these observations, the reader of this paper should be able to construct a global image on the phenomenon of code switching and code mixing which are happening in Transylvania.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Linguistic Rights of the Cham Minority (Albanian) in Greece
The Linguistic Rights of the Cham Minority (Albanian) in Greece
(The Linguistic Rights of the Cham Minority (Albanian) in Greece)
- Author(s):Hamit Xhaferi, Nerita Xhaferi, GËZIM RREDHI
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:59-70
- No. of Pages:12
- Summary/Abstract:Linguistic diversity is a world heritage which needs to be valued and protected. Each linguistic community has the right to use its language as an official language in the community where it lives. The history of the legal rights of the ethnic Albanian minorities in Greece is one form of a flagrant violation of the norms of the rights of the Greek state and also its international rights. The Albanian ethnic minority should have equal rights for education in their native language and to freely practise their religion. In Attica, Beotia, Arta, in the regions of Chameria (Ancient Thesprotia), Preveza, Arta, Ioannina and in the regions of Konitsa, Kastoria and Florina – taking into consideration the number of the population living in various Greek cities –, the number of orthodox Chams (Albanians) exceeds 500 thousand. However, Greece denies their existence in these regions. Arvanites in Greece do not have the right to use the Albanian alphabet (Latin) and they do not have Albanian schools or Albanian books. If Albanian language is spoken, it is spoken only inside the family. The Greek authorities, amongst other things, state that: ‘we don’t see it necessary that Albanians and other minorities should learn their languages, because the languages that they speak are not languages!’ The Albanian language has continuously been despised and ill-treated. The situation with the education in Chameria and in all the regions where Chams live is miserable. In Chameria today, you cannot find a single school in their mother tongue. Greece has always thought that opening new Albanian schools in Chameria will be a big betrayal of the Hellenic state and Christianity. Unlike Albania and Italy, which have opened many schools for the Greek minority in Albania and for the Arbëreshë in Italy, Greece has done the opposite by ending and sanctioning the Cham’s efforts for education in Albanian language.
- Price: 4.50 €
Language Rights of the Turkish Minority in Kosovo
Language Rights of the Turkish Minority in Kosovo
(Language Rights of the Turkish Minority in Kosovo)
- Author(s):Fahri Türk, Sencar Karamucho
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:71-79
- No. of Pages:9
- Summary/Abstract:In the era of Ex-Yugoslavia, the Turks of Kosovo established their own political institutions such as Doğru Yol Derneği (Association of True Path) in 1951 in Prizren. As the Turks gained their political, cultural and educational rights, the Yugoslav Government amended the constitution of the state in 1974, which paved the way to introduce a new Language Rights charter for all the minorities within the Republic. The 1974 Amendment made Turkish an official language besides Albanian and Serbian languages in the autonomous republic of Kosovo. Following this development, a Language Rights charter came in 1977, which guaranteed the use of Turkish language in the local administrations. Through the realization of this amendment, the Turks in Kosovo got the right to use their native language in public places and received identity cards in Turkish. As the Albanian people of Kosovo started to fight for their independence from Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic started a serbifying policy in the autonomous region of Kosovo that led to banning the Turkish language in public places as well as in the educational sphere. In the post-cold war era, the Turks of Kosovo established the Association of Turkish Democrats (Türk Demokrat Birliği) that tried to protect the rights of Turks in Kosovo in the fields of education, culture and language. The Association of Turkish Democrats became a political party in the first half of 2000 and is called Democratic Turkish Party of Kosovo (Kosova Demokratik Türk Partisi). The Constitutional Framework for Republic of Kosovo came into force in 2001, but it could not restore the language rights of the Turks in Kosovo, which they had gained through the 1974 Amendment. The Turks of Kosovo could not regain their language rights within the new language law of 2006, which allowed the use of Turkish only in the District of Municipality of Prizren. This study will clarify the conditions under which the Turkish language has lost its official language status. The attitudes of the Turkish elites and the Turkish people of Kosovo towards the loss of their language will be explored with the help of the interview method. In this context, it is very important to explain what role the Democratic Turkish Party of Kosovo and The Turkish Government in Ankara played in losing the language rights of the Turkish minority in Kosovo.
- Price: 4.50 €
Assessing Minority Language Rights in Kosovo
Assessing Minority Language Rights in Kosovo
(Assessing Minority Language Rights in Kosovo)
- Author(s):Andrea Najvirtova, Lars Burema
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:81-97
- No. of Pages:17
- Summary/Abstract:Minority language rights are central to minority–majority relations in Kosovo. However, it is an extremely sensitive and complicated issue, considering the recent conflict in 1999 and the continuing tensions between ethnic communities. The paper will provide an overview of Kosovo’s current institutional and legislative framework for the protection and promotion of minority language rights, including an analysis of the historical developments that led to its creation. Subsequently, the paper will examine the situation on the ground and look at how and to what extent this framework is put into practice, focusing on three key areas: the use of language in education, in public and private, and in relation with governmental institutions. Following this analysis, the paper will consider what factors are obstructing or enhancing the enjoyment of minority language rights in Kosovo. In the analysis, the paper will pay particular attention to the discrepancy between the ambitious legislation and the capacities and willingness of Kosovo institutions to ensure its implementation. It will stress that the geographic concentration of minority communities in Kosovo plays an important part in enabling minority communities to function effectively in their native language in the areas where they live. However, outside of these areas, the implementation of language rights put forth by Kosovo’s legal framework is much more limited. Finally, the paper will conclude with recommendations on measures to ensure the effective enjoyment of language rights in Kosovo.
- Price: 4.50 €
Minority Language Rights in Europe: from the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy to the Supranational Organizations
Minority Language Rights in Europe: from the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy to the Supranational Organizations
(Minority Language Rights in Europe: from the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy to the Supranational Organizations)
- Author(s):László Marácz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:101-125
- No. of Pages:25
- Summary/Abstract:The European language landscape is traditionally characterized by linguistic diversity. In historic and contemporary Europe, the establishment of state structures has caused the creation of all sorts of national and ethnic minorities. It has been observed that their linguistic rights have been represented satisfactorily in the modern period if within the framework of the Empire or State a concessive policy towards linguistic diversity existed, i.e. a policy allowing the inclusion of minority languages. Hence, there is a strong correlation between the granting of minority language rights by the State and a policy accommodating linguistic diversity by the same State. From this it follows that minority language rights are to be studied as a sub-case of a more general policy including linguistic diversity. Note, however, that even in a hierarchy of languages minority languages might be at the bottom remaining without official rights. So, the recognition of linguistic diversity is a necessary condition for minority language rights but not a sufficient one.In this paper, we will study this correlation between minority language rights and multilingual policy in the European context. In fact, two types of state structures come to mind for deeper investigation. Firstly, the multilingual federal states, those that go beyond the monolingual nation-state dominating the paradigm of the twentieth century, starting with the late Hapsburg Empire but including federal enterprises, such as former Yugoslavia and Switzerland. Secondly, the supranational organizations of states that came into being with the League of Nations after the First World War. Here, we will restrict ourselves to a discussion of minority language rights within the framework of the contemporary supranational organizations in Europe, namely the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OCSE). Comparing and analyzing the minority language rights’ regimes in both types of state structures will allow us to receive more insight into the contents, conditions, boundaries and historical developments of minority language rights in Europe.
- Price: 4.50 €
Minority Right Legislation in the Inter-War Period, a Prologue to the Present-Day European Convention and Charter of Minority Rights
Minority Right Legislation in the Inter-War Period, a Prologue to the Present-Day European Convention and Charter of Minority Rights
(Minority Right Legislation in the Inter-War Period, a Prologue to the Present-Day European Convention and Charter of Minority Rights)
- Author(s):Pieter Van der Plank
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:127-147
- No. of Pages:21
- Summary/Abstract:The evaluation of the state of the nation regarding linguistic minority rights, under protection of the European Charter, has to point out some important weaknesses, such as the multi-interpretable concept of minority, the flexible – let alone the manipulative – implementations of minority rights by the contracting states, the vague obligations imposed upon them to correct abuses, and a legal deficiency making juridical examination impossible. It is evident that the minority right is a right by intention, not by law, and therefore sensitive to many interpretations and misinterpretations, and, of course, political interests damaging the interests of the minorities. Consistent rules of control and correction can only be derived from laws, and it is evident that in this respect the Charter is nothing but a framework and gaps still have to be filled up in order to make it a foundation in the protection of minorities. To add some more aspects of imperfection, we state the following problems: who is entitled to ask for minority rights: individual citizens or representing organizations too, in which case further questions have to be put about what and who these organizations represent both in relation to the minority and to the state. Some European states, such as France, or Greece, resolved some of these problems in a drastic way by only recognizing individual members of minorities in their quality as citizens. This may reduce the problem in restricting minority rights to individual subjects, entitled to ask personal rights to practise their cultural peculiarities in private. On the contrary, other states, such as Belgium, deny individuals a collective minority status, not to undermine the precious conflict-reducing bi-territorial administrative settlements. In other words, the arrangements in which each of the state constituting nationalities, the Flemings and the Walloons, are obliged to exclusive language usage in their own federal part of the country, which denies their language a legal status in the federal part of the other nationality. The Catalonian autonomous region in Spain is another example being a semi-national territory with the administrative usage of the regional language above the national one. It looks like a matter of course that these states signed but did not ratify the ‘European-made’ minority rights laid down in the Charter. The Charter needs improvement by accommodating these differences. However, when it comes to a revision, allowing uniform European directives, we have to ask ourselves if it is profitable for the minorities, as a European regulation, denying differences between the European nations and their traditions, too, often results in resistance against and undermining the contemplated goals. My proposed conference contribution wants to attune to history, directing attention to the first European-wide minority legislature as drafted in the Peace Treaties concluding World War I. The League of Nations, the unhappy predecessor of the present-day United Nations, appointed itself with the task to implementing minority rights in the constitutions of the newly erected nation states. However, its minority protecting system collapsed dramatically and could not prevent the outbreak of a second World War. When Marácz suggests a European bench marking as the pivot of the minority legislature, we should like to take advantage by pointing out the importance of public report and discussion, because, between 1920 and 1940, just these were severely wanting by the failing system of the League. International law lost its authority and could not resolve or even relax the tensions between the state and its minorities any longer, leaving Central Europe to become a chimera in the struggle between peoples and nations: a struggle within and between nation-states, fighting against their minorities, privileging their own nation and supporting this nation as a minority in neighbouring states. This was due to unsolved and, at that time, unsolvable questions. The United Europe eliminated some of these questions, but others still need a solution; so what do we have to learn from the inter-war mistakes in order to make the Charter a foundation for European legislation?
- Price: 4.50 €
The Problems of Collective Rights in the Protection of National Minorities
The Problems of Collective Rights in the Protection of National Minorities
(The Problems of Collective Rights in the Protection of National Minorities)
- Author(s):András Bethlendi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:149-170
- No. of Pages:22
- Summary/Abstract:Two centuries after the French revolution, we start to contest one of the most important heritages of it, the legitimacy of nation-states. The liberal tradition seems to be very tolerant of the assimilative tendencies of the well-known symmetry-based formula: one country – one nation, which is, in most cases, far from reality. We can also see that in the majority of the armed conflicts after the cold war the reason is the self-government aspiration of an ethnic minority group, the attempt to reach an equal status with the ethnic majority. Why are liberalism and nationalism so compatible with each other? Is the nation-state able to rise to the challenge of multicultural society, or should we step forward for a better solution? Can we fulfil the requirement of equality and individual liberty without collective rights? These are the questions that I am seeking the answers for.
- Price: 4.50 €
Being in Minority or Majority? The Transylvanian Party in the Hungarian Public Life Between 1940 and 1944
Being in Minority or Majority? The Transylvanian Party in the Hungarian Public Life Between 1940 and 1944
(Being in Minority or Majority? The Transylvanian Party in the Hungarian Public Life Between 1940 and 1944)
- Author(s):János Kristóf Murádin
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:171-187
- No. of Pages:17
- Summary/Abstract:This paper deals with an unfairly forgotten party, trying to give a thorough picture of the Transylvanian Party which collected the Hungarians from Northern Transylvania together. There have been many attempts to hold the Hungarian community together and represent it politically after breaking away from Hungary in 1920. These attempts are already known today but not the activity of the Transylvanian Party between 1940 and 1944. This political configuration was the only Hungarian party from Transylvania in the last century that activated within the frame of the Hungarian State. It is thus a unique political party that was founded in the period when Hungarians represented the majority, but its operating mechanisms, its objectives and instruments had a ‘minority’ character going beyond regionalism, being an organic part of the Hungarian national political life. Its main objective was to hold the Hungarians of Transylvania together, to represent the Transylvanians in the Hungarian Parliament and to mediate between the local Romanian, German and Jew nationalities and the Hungarian government. The Transylvanian Party tried to reach a dominant position in the region in order to stop the expansion of the Hungarian, mainly extreme, right parties in Transylvania, and became the most comprehensive party in Transylvania. Among the 1,340,000 inhabitants of Northern Transylvania, 243,500 were active members of the party in 1942. My discourse concentrates on the founding, the building up of the party structure and the analysis of the party programme, with special focus on the basic conception of the party regarding ethnic problems in Transylvania. I also deal with the opinion of the Northern Transylvanian Hungarian community regarding this political configuration. At the end, I sketch in the cessation of the party and its intellectual legacy, which is relevant and useful even today.
- Price: 4.50 €
Catalonia’s Experiences for the Carpathian Basin
Catalonia’s Experiences for the Carpathian Basin
(Catalonia’s Experiences for the Carpathian Basin)
- Author(s):István Szilágyi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:191-214
- No. of Pages:24
- Summary/Abstract:The 21st century is the age of globalization, the era of connections and occurrence between cultures and civilizations representing different values and value systems. Our century is also the time of minorities and the time of identities becoming nation-conscious again as well as the time of integrational, disintegrational, territorializational, deterritorializational and reterritorializational tendencies and the implementation of the principle of the subsidiarity. All these factors have a significant influence on the multinational state structures in both the development and semi-peripheral areas of the world. The cessation of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, the federalizational and structural transformations in Great Britain, Spain and Italy and the state-failures in the area of the third world are the manifestations of the same phenomena. In the first part of the study, we follow the developing and changing processes of the democratic Spanish autonomy system. Preferably, we focus on the new Autonomy Statute of Catalonia, passed in July 2006. The document considers the Catalonians an independent nation; the official language of the self-governing community is the Catalonian language. The separation of Catalonia from Spain, becoming an independent state and uniting the territories of the historical ‘Great Catalonia,’ arises as a real alternative. In the second part of the study, we analyse the applicability and validity of the Catalonian model in the Carpathian Basin. In this framework, first we summarize the different autonomy formations and solutions, and then we examine the conditions of their application. We survey the migration, assimilation processes, the data of the national census and their historical backgrounds in the Carpathian Basin inhabited by Hungarians in the last ninety years. On the ground of these facts, we analyse the applicability of the Catalonian experiences, their analogies and differences. Finally, we lay down the followings: the Spanish-Catalan solution involving the notion of the concept of the cultural nation may bring official attention to the issue of the validity and feasibility of this model in the case of the minorities in the multinational states of our region. The reality of political self-government, territorial autonomy, the preservation of identity and its connection to the official use of language as well as the creation and maintenance of the necessary institutional framework calls attention to the practicability of a democratic state formation practice already existing in the European Union.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Catalan Regional Autonomy and its Experiences in Central and Eastern Europe
The Catalan Regional Autonomy and its Experiences in Central and Eastern Europe
(The Catalan Regional Autonomy and its Experiences in Central and Eastern Europe)
- Author(s):Endre Domonkos
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:215-239
- No. of Pages:25
- Summary/Abstract:My research field is the evaluation of the international autonomy models, especially the Catalan regional autonomy and its experiences in the Central and Eastern European region. The term of autonomy is tightly correlated to the decentralization of administrative structures and the principle of subsidiarity because, in every bourgeois state, autonomy can be realized by power-sharing. In this case, the competences of the central government and the local units are fixed by basic rules and constitution. One of the main accomplishments of the 1978 adopted Spanish Constitution was, inter alia, the creation of a democratic political system, which recognized Spain’s multinational characteristics. The Iberian country was divided into seventeen different autonomous communities, which had self-governance. According to the Constitution, the Basques, the Catalans and the Galicians were recognized as historical nationalities within the framework of Spain, providing a wide range of autonomy for them. The Spanish constitutional model could be a very good example because the country has succeeded in joining the European Union without having internal national conflicts. The endeavour of my lecture will be the evaluation of the experiences of the Catalan regional autonomy and its applicability in Central and Eastern Europe. I think that the Spanish constitutional model and the Catalan regional autonomous system have got important relevancies in order to preserve the linguistic, political and historic traditions of the Hungarian national minorities that live in Central and Eastern Europe. In my lecture, I will also focus on the different autonomy concepts elaborated by the Hungarian minority parties, using a multidisciplinary approach, and analyse its main elements.
- Price: 4.50 €
Ethnic Structure and Minority Rights in the Inter-War and Post-Soviet Estonia and Latvia
Ethnic Structure and Minority Rights in the Inter-War and Post-Soviet Estonia and Latvia
(Ethnic Structure and Minority Rights in the Inter-War and Post-Soviet Estonia and Latvia)
- Author(s):Ádám Németh, Áron Léphaft
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
- Page Range:241-262
- No. of Pages:22
- Summary/Abstract:The Baltic region plays the role of a special macro-region on our continent: it constitutes a bridge, however, sometimes a wall and fortress between Northern, Eastern and Central Europe. For hundreds of years, this peculiar geostrategic position has been determining the everyday life of the area’s inhabitants; thus, one of the oldest and most typical ‘geopolitical buffer zones’ as well as ‘ethnic contact zones’ is located here. During the 19th-20th centuries, an almost unexampled mix of ethnic groups lived in this area; little wonder that managing minorities was a serious challenge for the small independent Baltic countries during the inter-war period and it is one of the most serious challenges in the post-Soviet Baltics as well. The ‘journey’ of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from former Soviet republics towards European integration is disturbed by economic, political, social as well as ethnic problems, which first of all bear a relation to the Slavic minorities; remnants of a lost empire, the Soviet Union. As few decades before, the answers of these small countries to the similar questions are very different. For example, while the Estonian Cultural Autonomy of Ethnic Minorities Act (1925) was the first of its kind in the whole world and internationally recognized as a successful endeavour to protect the cultural autonomy of ethnic minorities, the Lithuanians were at war with the Poles because of Vilnius occupied by the Polish army in 1920. Since this region is still one of the ethnically most heterogeneous areas of Europe, the minority policies of – particularly – Latvia and Estonia are located constantly in the lime-light and are very often criticized by not only Russia but the European Union as well. The study seeks the answer when and how the ethnic structures and the minority policies evolved in the Baltic States during the first and second independence periods. Why did these countries apply different solutions in the case of similar challenges? Which are the most important lessons to be learned for the Central European minority policies?
- Price: 4.50 €
The (Trans)Formation of Minority Politics in Serbia and the Installation of Personal Autonomy (National Councils)
The (Trans)Formation of Minority Politics in Serbia and the Installation of Personal Autonomy (National Councils)
(The (Trans)Formation of Minority Politics in Serbia and the Installation of Personal Autonomy (National Councils))
- Author(s):Csaba Máté Sarnyai, Tibor Pap
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:263-276
- No. of Pages:14
- Summary/Abstract:The main aim of the lecture is to present the main and definitive turning points in the formation of Serbian minority institution systems, a process that has been ongoing in the last decade since the belated change of system in 2000, along with the consolidation of a democratic political establishment. We aim to highlight how majority–minority relations have been affected (1) by the fact that the political arena now includes personally principled spaces of action and (2) by the diversification of the policy methods through some innovative minority political tools. In the first section, the process is examined with regard to both the 2008 and 2012 (provincial and national) elections and the 2009 and 2012 presidential elections. We also discuss those background motives (of both the Serbian national political efforts and political self-representation of Serbian minorities) that influenced the minority-related dimensions of the aforementioned elections. The second part summarizes the political context of the first two elections of the national councils (NTs), including the formation of the act on national councils. The criticism on the NT act and its politico-theoretical aspects are highlighted subjects to discuss, as well as the so-called expert vs. politician issue and the matter of the electoral register. The third part focuses on the anomalies both in the vertical structure of politics/administration and in the competences (decision-making rights) of personally principled autonomies. Some so far detectable tensions and certain impending, potentially critical issues of these anomalies are analysed as well. The fourth section presents challenges in the multi-agent political space of minority institution system. It also discusses the controversies of the majority principle within minority decision-making. Minority self-governance and the (lacking) regional autonomy in Serbia would depend on/support each other. The final section addresses the issue of ‘bottom-up’ organized institutions and their role both in the democratization of society and the stabilization of the West Balkan region. The particular example for the above practical, socio- and politico-theoretical considerations in the field of minority representation and minority policy is the institutional system of national councils in Serbia, but the arising questions are quite relevant from national and European perspective as well.
- Price: 4.50 €
Electoral Systems and National Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe: a Dilemma in Five Paradigms Revisited
Electoral Systems and National Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe: a Dilemma in Five Paradigms Revisited
(Electoral Systems and National Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe: a Dilemma in Five Paradigms Revisited)
- Author(s):Carlos Flores Juberías
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:279-303
- No. of Pages:25
- Summary/Abstract:Some ten years ago, and within the framework of a collective reflection on the politics of national minority participation in post-communist Europe, I proposed a classification of the diverse ways in which the electoral laws of these countries were addressing the problem of the parliamentary representation of ethnic minorities. In that essay, I argued that formulas contained in these electoral laws had swung from the extreme hostility of those prohibiting the creation of ethnically based parties to the inclusiveness of those where ethnicity had been converted into the very basis of political representation, going through a wide range of intermediate strategies like hindering that representation, being indifferent towards it, facilitating it in practice and providing legal guarantees for it. Now, in a context in which democracy is already consolidated, the legacy of the Balkan wars is gradually disappearing, and ten of these countries are already part of the EU, it is easy to anticipate that the perception of what should be an adequate treatment for national minorities in electoral laws should have substantially changed. On the basis of the above-mentioned paradigms, this paper examines the manners in which these laws have changed their treatment of national minorities, it seeks to give an explanation as to why these changes have taken place, and it tries to assess their implications in the parliamentary representation of minorities – and, even more, in its social and political integration – through the region.
- Price: 4.50 €
Mainstream Parties and Ethnic Minority Candidates in Romania
Mainstream Parties and Ethnic Minority Candidates in Romania
(Mainstream Parties and Ethnic Minority Candidates in Romania)
- Author(s):Marius Lupșa Matichescu
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:305-316
- No. of Pages:12
- Summary/Abstract:The paper will explore the mainstream parties’ strategies in recruiting ethnic minority candidates. Considering that the mainstream parties’ efforts to gain the support of ethnic minority voters could be penalized by ethnic majority voters, we focus our investigation on the following issues: What type of mainstream parties and when are they likely to ignore these risks and recruit minority candidates for office? We argue that a mainstream party’s decision to recruit minority candidates is a function of the party voters’ views of the ethnic other and the politicians’ calculations of electoral benefits of minority support. We expect that parties whose voter base is more accepting of the ethnic other are more likely to recruit minority candidates than parties whose electorate is less ethnically tolerant. The party voters’ attitudes toward ethnic diversity rather than the party’s generic ideological family orientation should thus shape the party’s recruitment strategies. In the Romanian case, the empirical supports for these hypotheses are exanimate based on party recruitment behaviour. The dataset used contains candidates both for the lower and upper chamber of the Romanian parliament for all parliamentary elections since 1992 in counties where ethnic Hungarians constitute more than 10% of the population.
- Price: 4.50 €
Ethnic Minorities and Censuses
Ethnic Minorities and Censuses
(Ethnic Minorities and Censuses)
- Author(s):Inez Zsófia Koller
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:319-333
- No. of Pages:15
- Summary/Abstract:In many countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, national censuses counted citizens during 2010 and 2011. Census questionnaires included questions on minority identity and the different native languages from the official language of the countries. So, minorities were counted as well. Widescale experiences of the 20th century has taught minorities to handle censuses gingerly as there are different motives of national and ethnic minorities in confessing their ethnic identity, country by country. One aim of my (already a half-year-long) investigation is to create a data comparison from national censuses of the last one or two years in Central and Eastern European and Balkan countries. What are the gains and losses? How have data changed as compared to previous censuses. How have categories changed and how have national-level party politics changed on this topic as compared to previous censuses. Furthermore, within these flows, I am interested in the role of ethnic parties in encouraging minorities to do more for confessing their ethnic identity. What kinds of campaign methods did they take? How did ethnic tensions rise in connection with censuses? Finally, my last question is just a symbolical one: are there any changes in the relation of the number of minorities to their political representation? My study focuses on comparable statistical data, judiciary documents and press articles.
- Price: 4.50 €
The German Minority in Contemporary Poland – from Isolation to Political Relevance
The German Minority in Contemporary Poland – from Isolation to Political Relevance
(The German Minority in Contemporary Poland – from Isolation to Political Relevance)
- Author(s):Piotr Janiszewski
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences
- Page Range:335-352
- No. of Pages:18
- Summary/Abstract:1990 brought forth the ‘rebirth’ of the German minority in Poland. Within two years, the new III Republic witnessed the creation of numerous local, regional and umbrella associations. Their number and high activity, as well as the number of people declaring their access to these organizations came as a surprise and, to some, as a shock. The article aims to analyse the political role of the German minority in Poland in two main aspects. The first is the political position of German organizations that participate in the national and municipal/regional elections. It is so far the only national minority in Poland that is able to obtain seats in the national parliament on its own and the only one whose organization co-governs a region. Why was the German minority able to achieve a position that the other, relatively numerous national minorities in Poland, such as the Ukrainians and Belarusians, were not? Was the aid given to German minority organizations coming from the Federal Republic the key factor, or did other, mainly social/ cultural aspects play a decisive role? The second aspect is the political but also cultural, educational and social activity of the German minority organizations seen from the perspective of the Polish political discourse. Although the relations between Germany and Poland have only improved since 1990, the fear of German revisionism was and is still present in Poland, which of course has its impact on the reception of the German minority organizations’ activities and political role, especially in borderland regions like Silesia. What role has this issue played in the last 22 years and how and why has it evolved in the course of time? Both these aspects are the pillars of the political analyses of the German minority in Poland.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Alevi-Bektaşi Religious Group of Turkey. Its History and Today
The Alevi-Bektaşi Religious Group of Turkey. Its History and Today
(The Alevi-Bektaşi Religious Group of Turkey. Its History and Today)
- Author(s):Szilárd Szilágyi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Theology and Religion
- Page Range:353-360
- No. of Pages:8
- Summary/Abstract:The Alevi-Bektaşis of Turkey are a very interesting religious denomination in Turkey, which unites many influences from religions and religious denominations like Shia and Sunni Islam, Hurufism, Christianity, Zoroastrism, Shamanism and the Islam mysticism called Sufism. My presentation will point out their huge importance and influence in Europe in the expansion of the Islamic religion in the Middle Ages, with the founding of many Bektaşi ‘monasteries,’ called tekkes, in the Balkanic Peninsula, today’s Romania and Hungary; their importance in the history of the Turkish culture, their relations with the Ottoman power, from a privileged class, backed by the Janissaries, called also the military wing of the Bektaşis, which has been banned and closed from the beginning of the XIX. century, but it is still a flourishing and growing religious order in underground. After World War I, with the foundation of the Turkish Republic, came the prohibition of all the religious and mystical Sufi orders, which brought the Bektaşi order to an end, but the Alevis, the so-called Village Bektaşi, which are more a heterodox religious denomination than a rel igious order – but as for their roots, religious beliefs, ceremonies, traditions and revered founding ‘saints,’ they are the same with Bektaşis –, today call themselves Alevi-Bektaşi, the continuers of the old Bektaşis. In my paper, I will demonstrate the extent to which the Alevis can be called Bektaşis and how their traditions survive today, in the modern world. I will also present the attitude of today’s pro-orthodox Islam political power towards a group which traditionally supports the secular left parties, in which they feel their religious values and freedom less threatened. I will also point out the relations of the Alevi-Bektaşis to the Sunni majority of the Turkish population and some of their tragic conflicts from the recent past
- Price: 4.50 €
The Experience on the Higher Education Programmes among the Master’s Students – A Multicultural Approach
The Experience on the Higher Education Programmes among the Master’s Students – A Multicultural Approach
(The Experience on the Higher Education Programmes among the Master’s Students – A Multicultural Approach)
- Author(s):Márton Tonk, Tünde Székely
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences
- Page Range:361-381
- No. of Pages:21
- Summary/Abstract:In this study, we present a research focusing on the implementation and consequences of the Bologna Process, in a multicultural approach. As far as we know, in Romania, there were no similar projects realized. The research was realized in Cluj-Napoca, between 21st of March 2010 and 30th of June 2011. The methodology of the research: we will present the findings of the faceto- face survey among the Master’s (MA/MSc) students at the state universities in Cluj-Napoca. The study language was taken in consideration during the research and the results are partly presented by using this differentiation. The results of our research are presented in this study, and the most interesting findings are the following: the Bologna Process – after its application during the last 5 years – did not achieve its most important goals, which were the mobility of the students and the preparation of the students for the labour market. The mobility – among those MA and MSc students who completed our survey – it is not more than 14%, and most of them said that the higher education does not prepare them to take a job according to their professional training. The Bologna Process – five years after its coming into effect – has not yet reached its most relevant objectives, which are (1) student mobility – it reached 14% among the students who filled out our questionnaire – and (2) the preparation of the graduates for the real demands of the European Union’s labour market. The failure to realize these objectives can be concluded from the students’ statements, the majority believing that university studies fall short in getting them prepared to take up a job that suits their professional trainings. The most significant problem that emerged after the application of the Bologna Process is the very fact that the graduates’ level of preparation does not meet the actual demands of the labour market neither at national level nor at the level of the European Union. Therefore, these students come to be ‘unemployed graduates’. Regarding the above-mentioned problem, we present some suggestions for its resolution in the paper presented.
- Price: 4.50 €