Suchergebnisse

This article deals with the political challenges that European liberal democracies confront in relation to their internal national pluralism. After analysing two analytical distortions of Western political thought –the fallacy of abstraction and the usual shortcomings of this tradition in relation to pluralism- the article presents twelve elements for a political and moral refinement of plurinational liberal democracies. These elements are linked with an analytical and normative collective dimension usually marginalized and which cannot be reduced to the individualist, universalist and stateist approach of traditional democratic liberalism and constitutionalism. Finally, the article deals with the practical solutions offered by comparative politics to try to accommodate nationally pluralist societies according to reviewed liberal-democratic patterns.

Financial The socio-political adjustment and economic well-being of minority groups has been reported as one of the important issues in the recent time in Pakistan. The study was conducted to know the adjustment issues of Christians and Sikhs minorities in District Peshawar and Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. More specifically, the aim of this study was to explore how Sikhs and Christian minorities in Pakistan are adjusted in the social fabric of Muslim majority areas and to what extent their economic ties with Muslims are strengthening their overall social interaction in the area. A total of 372 respondents from the targeted locales were selected through proportional allocation through Sekaran table and data was collected based on five-point Likert scale. The economic activities of the minorities were selected as independent variables while the level of social interaction was obtained as dependent variables. The collected data was analysed at uni-variate level through frequency distribution and Chi square test was performed at bi-variate level. It was found that minorities are fully enjoying participation in the economic activities which results in strong social ties and interaction in their daily lives with Muslim majority in the study area. However, it was also found that the minorities are still underprivileged in the area of economic and business activities in Pakistan.

Abstract
In the 20th century, the two world wars reshaped the map of Central Europe as well as the status of Central Europe's diverse societies. In my article, I focus on the Hungarian and German minorities in Slovakia and the representation of their problematic historical past in contemporary Slovak museums. More specifically, I zoom in on the exhibition Exchanged Homes displayed in Bratislava, which aims to commemorate the fate of Hungarians, Germans, and Slovaks, all of whom were affected by the population transfers after World War II. Based on the concept of memorial museums theorized by Paul Williams, I aim to show how the different exhibitions engage with the traumatic past of forceful resettlement. By offering multifaceted memories of a troubled past, these exhibitions avoid categorizing "victims" and "perpetrators" along national or ethnic lines. My paper thus analyzes the concepts and components of the exhibitions—the context of the postwar events, oral history interviews, and objects of everyday use that should bring the visitor closer to the experience of the people who were forced to leave. I argue that exhibitions of this sort have the ability to challenge the dominant historical narrative focusing on a national "Slovak" history and help the process of reconciliation between the Slovak majority society, and the Hungarian and German minorities.

This ideal resource is the result of an enthusiastic collaboration of authors from both Europe and the United States. Highlighting diversities and similarities found in law enforcement priorities, punishment philosophy and practices, and media coverage, the volume also includes an enlightening discourse on political, scholarly and public issues critical to this area of research

In Sri Lanka's ethnic politics, the Kalmunai administrative district demand has become the forefront issue in the past few decades. This demand advocates the establishment of a new administrative district—an intermediate decentralized administrative institution connecting the central government and local public in terms of public service delivery, and economic and regional development—for the coastal belt of the present Amparai district in the eastern province. Though the Kalmunai administrative district demand has become a popular concern of the Sri Lanka's ethnic politics in the new millennium and was highly advocated by the political and civil forces among the Muslims of the area, the demand faced ups and downs in its politicization and advocacy process that ultimately challenge the possibilities of establishing the proposed administrative district up till this day. This study attempted to evaluate the history of the politicization and advocacy of the Kalmunai administrative district demand extensively. The finding reveals that although the Kalmunai administrative district demand emerged on rational ground, in due cause, it became over ethnicized and brought more communal criticisms and oppositions that challenged the political advocacy and the success of the demand to a certain extent. Further, the political advocacy of the demand was also on and off in nature and the major advocating party has failed to make the opportunities successful. This study highlights the importance of a continued and collective political advocacy for on rational ground with the purpose of making the Kalmunai administrative district demand a public issue and to transform it as an "input" to the political system for the policy-making process. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3p61

This article examines under what conditions descriptive representatives of national minorities can also act as substantive representatives. It provides an empirical analysis of the behaviour of the representatives with ethnic minority backgrounds in the eighth National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Specifically, the article builds upon a content analysis of all interventions in the plenary parliamentary debates of the thirty-one minority MPs in the period between June 2008 and March 2012. The analysis suggests that having a minority ethnic background or political party registered as a political party of national minority are not sufficient conditions for substantive minority representation. The findings show that minority representatives elected on minority electoral lists engage more in substantive representation of minorities than descriptive representatives elected to parliament either as members of mainstream parties or through pre-electoral arrangements of minority parties with mainstream political parties.