Albania and Kosova in the Circle of Migration Mobility in the XXth Century

Author(s): Gjon Boriçi / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The European continent has been known throughout history for endless wars and conflicts. The first half of the 20th century was too heavily burdened. Two destructive wars that brought immense nightmares. After 1945, the continent knew a 45 year peace. In the last ten years of the '90-ies the nationalistic conflicts were reborn in Europe, where without doubt the wars in the former Yugoslavia occupied the principal news in media. In these wars, the Albanian case is the most sensitive. Albanians are people divided in five states in the Balkan Peninsula. This element is enough to make the region have always in mind the Albanian question. After the fall of communism, Albanians were forced to emigrate due to difficult economic situation in the country. During the war in Kosova and the crises in Macedonia in 2001, the Albanians there were forced to move in order to escape geno-cide. The end of wars brought Albanians come closer to Europe through mobility. The old continent has been for years the forbidden dream of Albanians. The Albanians in the Balkan region faced very hard challenges during the XX century. In this article I have tried to compare the past mobility of Albanians with the present times and to draw the conclusion that in the first years of the XXI centu-ry, the dream of free movement of Albanians is put under question. The methodology that I have introduced in this article is mainly focused on historic issues of the past with elements of today in order to draw a comparative study between what has happened and what is expected to happen to Albanians in the Balkan region. In this article I have tried to make an effort to explain why Albanians were forced to move and why the territory of Albanians was turned into a violent greed by the neighbors. The descriptive and comparative elements that I have tried to introduce in this article possibly shed new light why this forced mobility among Albanians is still in a first view unstoppable.

RROMANIPE IN TRANSITION: PROTESTANTIZATION OF ROMA

Author(s): Dragan M. Todorović / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2016

The expansion of Protestant teaching among Roma in southeastern Serbia, more intensely in the last decade and a half, has initiated the process of reshaping their collective identity. Traditional components of Rromanipe are being reconceptualized and adapted to modernity. The former belonging to a unified and homogenous ethnic group is today raised to the level of religious identification, and the cultural identity is equated with the proclaimed values of religious communities, whose new members they are. The primary division into “Us, Roma” and “Them, Gadže” has evolved into “Us, believers” and “Them, Non-believers”. When choosing a partner, the “purity of blood” is no longer crucial, now it is the “purity in Christ”: the preferred choice of partner exclusively founded on the endogamic basis is substituted by a choice with a confessional basis, leading to a richer ethnic palette. The paper analyzes the replies of baptized believers of Romani nationality in several Protestant religious communities on the territory of southeastern Serbia (Christian Baptist Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Adventist Church and Evangelical Pentecostal Church) concerning the differences between the world of Protestant Roma and non-Roma and the world of non-believing Roma and non-Roma, as well as the possibility of entering friendly relationships and marriages with Roma and non-Roma who do not belong to a selected Protestant church.

Slovenská národnostná menšina v krajinách bývalého Uhorska a jej médiá

Author(s): Mária Follrichová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 3-4/2016

This study focuses on the settlement of Slovaks within Hungary and dedicates it to the Slovak national minority and its print media and radio and television broadcasting in the Republic of Croatia, Romania and the Republic of Serbia. She deals mainly with major print media: Croatian monthly Prameň, Romanian monthly Naše snahy and Serbian weekly Hlas ľudu.

Reflexia národnostných menšín v slovenskej periodickej tlači (2008 – 2012)

Author(s): Peter Kubínyi / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 3-4/2016

The study is devoted to the reflection of national minorities in Slovak periodical print during the years 2008 – 2012. Eleven titles of periodical print were taken under examination focused to the created picture by media of separate national minorities living in Slovakia. The result of our study intended to find whether the created picture of national minorities by Slovak print media during the investigated years 2008 – 2012 was objective or not, whether the journalists informed equally about all national minorities or dedicated more space to some of them, or eventually informed differently about some against the others. We were also noticing if the journalistic manifestations in print media in the years 2008- 2012 contained stereotypic or negative picturing of national minorities in Slovakia.

Medzinárodný workshop o etnicky citlivých dátach (aj) so splnomocnencom pre rómske komunity

Author(s): Anna Polačková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2016

Kašparová, I.: Politika romství – romská politika

Author(s): Veronika Valkovičová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2016

Review of: Kašparová, I.: Politika romství – romská politika. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství (Slon) 2014. ISBN 978-80-7419-157-2.

Jazyk a konfesia Slovákov v Chorvátsku v súčasnosti a ich dosah na možnosti revitalizácie

Author(s): Miriam Stašková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 02/2016

Research, which was carried out in areas of Western Srem and Eastern Slavonia in Slovak villages in the territory of Croatia, was motivated by attempt to capture the current state of the use of Slovak language by the Slovaks in that area in the context of manifestations of ethnic identity of Slovaks in Croatia and also with regard to their confessional affiliation. Confession, has proved to be one of the main factors of maintaining the Slovak minority in the majority environment.

Pozdravni govor predsjednika Republike Hrvatske prof. dr. sc. Ive Josipovića

Author(s): Ivo Josipović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 9/2013

Zaštita manjinskih identiteta u Republici Hrvatskoj

Author(s): Ružica Jakešević / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 9/2013

This paper examines the issue of minority identity, freedom of its expression in different social contexts, as well as problems which might appear as a result of the termination of the right to express diversity in the public sphere, and where diversity presents an obstacle to full integration into society. Also, the paper points to the measures aimed at protection of identity and specially analyzes the model which is in force in the Republic of Croatia, which relies on two principles: identity and integration.

Politički identitet u multikulturalnim državama sa osvrtom na Crnu Goru

Author(s): Danijela Vuković-Ćalasan / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 9/2013

The problem of building and shaping political identity in multicultural societies is actualized by the politicization of cultural tendencies and „pluralism of identity“ of the late twentieth century. The issue of a common identity, its redefining and adapting to the new reality of complexed ethno-cultural pluralism, became open even for traditional, consolidated liberal democracies. The post-communist societies in transition are facing the need for designing the new political identities in the process of building the state and nation, in the complexed internal circumstances. As a civic state by its Constitution, Montenegro has decided to build a common political, ethnic and national identity, based on strengthening the legal and political, rather than cultural and ethnic components of its structure. The foundation of national identity on the civic principle is particularly important for societies with strong ethno-cultural pluralism, in which the particular (ethno) national identities are still present, such as Montenegrin. It is necessary, therefore, to build the common identity, as well as wide enough so the members of different ethnic and cultural communities can identify with it and develop a sense of belonging and loyalty to the nation-state identity. The politicization and political instrumentalization of the ethnic and national identity in terms of an unfinished process of individualization and value transition process in general, make the consolidation of the common political identity difficulty. Civic, liberal-democratic national identity is a good framework for the realization of both individual as well as collective rights, thus it is, by its nature, inclusive and open to the ethno-cultural distinctiveness, but also due to the fact that emphasizes the primacy of the individual over the community. It`s equally important, in line with the need for recognition of different cultural and ethnic identity of national and ethnic minorities, to develop collective rights too to the extent that will not disintegrate common, political, ethnic and national identity. That is, relying on the arguments of the multiculturalists, a necessary condition for the recognition of an individual’s identity and respect of its rights and freedoms. In this way, implementation of the rights of ethno-cultural communities to preserve and recognize their identity as well as equal and fair access to public space, become no less important, than the need to strengthen common political identity.

CASE STUDY Internal migration in Italy. Long-run analysis of push and pull factors across regions and macro-areas of the country

Author(s): Romano Piras / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2016

The great majority of empirical studies on internal migration across Italian regions either ignore the long-run perspective of the phenomenon or do not consider push and pull factors separately. In addition, Centre-North to South flows, intra South and intra Centre-North migration have been neglected. We aim to fill this gap and study interregional migration flows from different geographical perspectives. We apply four panel data estimators with different statistical assumptions and theoretical properties and show that long-run migration flows from the Mezzogiorno towards Centre-Northern regions are well explained by a gravity model in which per capita GDP, unemployment along with population at both origin and destination play a major role. On the contrary, migration flows from Centre-North to South has probably much to do with other social and demographic factors. Finally, intra Centre-North and intra South migration flows roughly obey to the gravity model, though not all explicative variables are relevant.

VIEWPOINT: Europe’s migration crisis: an American perspective

Author(s): Philip L. Martin / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

The European Union’s 28 member nations received over 1.2 million asylum seekers in 2015, including a million in Germany and over 150,000 in Sweden. The US, by comparison, has been receiving 75,000 asylum applications a year. One reason for the upsurge was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s August 2015 announcement that Syrians could apply for asylum in Germany even if they passed through safe countries en route. The challenges of integrating asylum seekers are becoming clearer, prompting talk of reducing the influx, reforming EU institutions, and integrating migrants.

CASE STUDY Transiting into the Singapore-an identity: Immigration and naturalisation policy

Author(s): Mathews Mathew,Debbie Soon / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Debates in Singapore about immigration and naturalisation policy have escalated substantially since 2008 when the government allowed an unprecedentedly large number of immigrants into the country. This essay will discuss immigration and naturalisation policy in Singapore and the tensions that have been evoked, and how these policies are a key tool in regulating the optimal composition and size of the population for the state’s imperatives. It will demonstrate that although the state has, as part of its broader economic and manpower planning policy to import labour for economic objectives, it seeks to retain only skilled labour with an exclusive form of citizenship. Even as the Singapore state has made its form of citizenship even more exclusive by reducing the benefits that non-citizens receive, its programmes for naturalising those who make the cut to become citizens which include the recently created Singapore Citizenship Journey (SCJ) is by no means burdensome from a comparative perspective. This paper examines policy discourse, key symbols and narratives provided at naturalisation events and demonstrates how these are used to evoke the sense of the ideal citizen among new Singaporeans.

Relativizacija evropskih manjinskih politika – studija slučaja Bosna i Hercegovina

Author(s): Miloš Šolaja / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 14/2015

the author discusses the reasons for relativization of the national minorities protection policy of the Council of europe and the european union in light of the problems with national minorities protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. the minorities protection policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina had implications for minority rights protection in Hungary and Croatia after Croatia’s accession to the eu. the european union, the Council of europe and other european institutions defined their position towards minority rights in light of the european Court for Human rights decision in the Sejdić and Finci case. the decision specified mandatory constitutional changes in terms of equal protection of national minority rights. according to the demanded constitutional revisions, the representatives of national minorities would have a right to compete for legal and executive positions in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before the eCHr decision, only representatives of the three constituent peoples – Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats could be nominated for positions in the legislature and in the executive institutions. the Council of europe mediated by Coe Parliamentarian assembly and Committee of Ministers threatened to suspend BiH membership to the Coe until the decision was implemented. at the same time, coordinated european union institutions made the ratification of the Stabilization and association agreement (Saa) negotiated with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008 conditional upon the implementation of the Sejdić and Finci decision. the threat wasn’t carried through and BiH became presiding country of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of europe in 2014. In the meantime, the newly elected european Parliament as well as recently appointed european Commission accepted the Saa although the Sejdić-Finci decision was not incorporated in the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Konsolidacija demokracije u Bosni i Hercegovini u sferi položaja nacionalnih manjina sa posebnim osvrtom na položaj „ostalih”

Author(s): Mirza Smajić,Zarije Seizović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 14/2015

the article discusses the status, rights and perspectives of the minorities and “non-constituent” peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina. the status of the “constituent minorities” (the “others”) is very specific and different from the minorities’ status in neighbouring countries. the article argues that in Bosnia and Herzegovina ”traditional” attitudes like ethno-nationalism, discrimination, violation of minorities rights and freedoms are still very dominant. a direct consequence of this socio-political atmosphere is ethno-particularisation of society and destabilization of the state in domestic and international contexts. this short review of the status of minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an insight into the international and national instruments that regulate the status and rights of the national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. the authors highlight the specificity of the country, i.e. the institutional discrimination of citizens that belong to the “others”, but are still citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the authors claim that the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be an efficient protection against the observed discrimination.

Značenje regionalne suradnje za očuvanje jezika i kulture Roma

Author(s): Vera Klopčić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 14/2015

The article topic is regional cooperation in light of its special importance for the rights of dispersed ethnic minorities living in different countries. In this context the situation of roma stands out as a specific issue in the context of modern european minority protection. International documents for the first time in history provide institutional support for the preservation of ethnic identity of the roma in europe. the european Charter for regional or Minority Languages expands its protection also to the protection of non-territorial languages, including the roma language. In the second half of the last century, in the geographical area of the Western Balkans some initiatives for the preservation and development of the romani language and identity started. Following these initiatives, representatives of roma from the former Yugoslavia started a project for standardization of the roma language. Practice has shown that this process significantly influenced the situation and the use of the romani language in Slovenia.

(In)visible spaces and tactics of transnational engagement: A multi-dimensional approach to the Kurdish diaspora

Author(s): Bahar Başer,Ann-Catrin Emanuelsson,Mari Toivanen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The Kurdish diaspora has been transnationally active and efficient in terms of raising awareness of the plight of the Kurds in Europe and elsewhere. However, there is a clear need to situate the current analysis of the diaspora in the context of rapidly changing political landscapes that includes both local and global power relations conditioning the diaspora’s transnational participation, political mobilisation and action. This special issue contributes to the abundant stream of research by including articles that touch upon various issues regarding Kurdish diasporic behaviour. We hope this will provide new openings for scholars working on the Kurdish diaspora. We present articles from diverse disciplines in social sciences including sociology, anthropology, and political science. This interdisciplinary approach not only enriches the analysis related to Kurdish diaspora mobilisation, but also highlights new perspectives emerging from this initiative.

Filming family and negotiating return in making Haraka Baraka: Movement is a blessing

Author(s): Lana Askari / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

This article focuses on how Kurdish returnees experience the process of returning “home”, how they imagine and (re) negotiate their future, through the discussion of my documentary film, Haraka Baraka: Movement is a Blessing, which tells the story of my parents’ return to Iraqi Kurdistan after living in the Netherlands for more than 20 years. While over the past decade, the Kurdistan Region has developed into a safe-haven situated within a conflict-laden area, the recent tension around the Islamic State’s (IS) expansion has changed the social and political landscape significantly in the Middle East, leading to new considerations for potential returnees. Based on the fieldwork I conducted through filming my own family during their return journey, I argue that using visual anthropological tools can open a window onto diasporic movements and illuminate social life in times of crisis by challenging the representation of Kurdish migrants and addressing the impact of uncertainty in their lives.

Reflections on the Kurdish diaspora: An interview with Dr Kendal Nezan

Author(s): Mari Toivanen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

In this interview, Dr Kendal Nezan, the director of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, reflects on the development of the Kurdish diaspora, the current state of affairs concerning Kurdish movements in Europe and the past and present of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, first established in 1983. Nezan notes that the institute has been successful in creating a non-partisan public space open for Kurds from all corners of the world as well as to others interested in Kurdish history, language, culture and politics. Furthermore, the institute has been an important platform to raise awareness about the Kurdish cause in Europe. The continued functioning of the institute remains essential and, according to Nezan, not least for the second generation diaspora to be able to engage for the Kurdish cause. To this end, the institute has been negatively affected by the austerity policies of the French authorities and launched a donation campaign to draw contributions to ensure that it can continue to operate as an independent institute.

Determinants of Internal Migration in Turkey: A Panel Data Analysis Approach

Author(s): Aslihan Kabadayi,M. Gizem Umut Dogan / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2015

Internal migration movements in Turkey have been a major concern for policy makers, city planners and academicians for decades. To anticipate and regulate these movements it is crucial to understand the factors behind these movements; namely the push and pull factors specific to regions. In this study it is aimed to discover the most effective determinants of the recent internal migration movements in Turkey. With this aim the internal migration patterns in 2008-2012 are examined by provinces in the context of push and pull factors of migration using a macro approach. A panel dataset is constructed by employing the available data covering time series of the economic, social and environmental aspects of provinces as well as the provincial migration movements. With this dataset it is attempted to find out the determinants of internal migration in Turkey by using panel data analysis methods. The economic factors such as job and high in-come opportunities; factors related to better living conditions such as education, health care and security are expected to play a significant role in pulling internal migration.