Suchergebnisse

The series of ethnic conflicts in the Western Balkans over the 1990s involved primarily the constituent nations of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and later, Albanians and Macedonians. Ethnic violence has equally affected other numerically smaller groups residing in the geographic areas affected by conflict between the dominant, de facto state-founding ethnic groups. The paper investigates the continuous importance of ethnic identity for political participation of non-dominant groups affected by the ethno-political dynamics of dominant groups in post-conflict Croatia. Analyses of the political mobilisation of non-dominant groups in regions previously affected by conflict offer evidence that their ethno-political mobilisation reflects the continuous importance of identity-politics in the context of highly ethnicised institutions ensuring political representation at national and municipal levels.

Antiziganism is a widespread phenomenon in all European societies. Poor or rich, 'postcommunist' or 'traditional', North or South, with 'lean' or 'thick' welfare systems?all European societies demonstrate antiziganist prejudice. All across Europe Romanis are among the poorest, most destitute, and most excluded communities. Widespread prejudice and stereotypical representations of Romani individuals limit their chances for participation in democratic decision making processes and their access to services. Unable to counteract majority stereotypes systematically, more often than not they remain on the fringes of society. This edited volume asks where these stereotypes and prejudices come from, why they are ubiquitous to all societies, and how pertinent their impact on antiziganist attitudes found in European societies really is

Intro -- A cat's lick: Democratisation and minority communities in the post-Soviet Baltic -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Foreword by David J. Galbreath -- Introduction -- 1. The challenges of post-communist democratisation -- 2. Case study: The Baltic states -- 3. A note on terminology: The minority communities -- 4. Structure of the book -- Chapter 1-Explaining post-communist democratisation -- 1. Consolidation of the democratic regimes -- 2. Democratisation and society -- 3. Civil society in post-communism -- 4. Conclusion -- Chapter 2-Ethno-territorial proliferation in the Soviet Baltic -- 1. Economic development and the demographic shift -- 2. The making of the Soviet people -- 3. Dissent and contention in the Soviet Union -- 4. The impact of affirmative action on Russian-speakers -- 5. Conclusion -- Chapter 3-Baltic perestroika and nation-building -- 1. Baltic nationalism awakened -- 2. Baltic pro-Soviet movements: The counterforce? -- 3. Cultural nationalism of Lithuania's Sąjūdis -- 4. Estonia and Latvia: The cases of ethnonationalism? -- 5. Conclusion -- Chapter 4-State-building and framing of non-titulars -- 1. Design of political membership in Estonia and Latvia -- 2. Crafting the status of the state languages -- 3. Language enforcement -- 4. Internationalisation of minority politics -- 5. Conclusion -- Chapter 5-Titularisation of Baltic education -- 1. Language teaching -- 2. Introducing bilingual education programmes -- 3. Changes in school curricula -- 4. Conclusion -- Chapter 6-Minority cooptation in the Baltic societies -- 1. Multicultural in form, national in content -- 2. The instruments of minority integration -- 3. Diluted outcomes of integration -- 4. Cooptation as a model of integration -- 5. Conclusion -- Chapter 7-The Language of alienation -- 1. Minorities' proficiency in the state language

The research on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has pointed out some controversial social and political developments since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Crucially, there is a discrepancy between the governments' commitment to creating democratic political regimes, to ensuring harmonious social relations and to accommodating the ethno-cultural diversity of the resident communities. In reflecting on the legacies of the Soviet past, the book addresses the role non-titular populations have played in the process of democratisation and the relation between the states, societies and minorities in the post-Soviet Baltic states. The argument proceeds along three lines. Firstly, the book examines the institutional dimension of democratisation in the region, thereby addressing the processes of state- and nation-building as reflected in various policy-developments. Secondly, it compares the impact of ethno-cultural diversity on the development of the respective Baltic nation-states. The discussion makes clear that the framework of Baltic political communities was designed to suit the interests of the titular groups and thus resulted in the marginalisation of the minority communities. Thirdly, the book assesses the participation of minority communities in the development, criticism and improvement of state institutions and policies since independence. The analysis points out that, two decades after independence, the post-Soviet Baltic states and societies are seen by many members of the majority groups as primarily serving the interests of their ethnic community. In this situation, the members of the non-titular communities need to adapt to the majorities' perceptions in order to benefit from the achievements of democratisation.

Premised on elite accommodation, consociations provide little consideration for citizens' input on institutional change. Likewise, valuable analyses of cross-community political participation in divided societies have emerged in recent years, yet whether the relationship between the grassroot and formal political process has broader consequences remains to be fully explored. The article examines the conditions in which nonelectoral participation takes place and the ways in which actors involved therein negotiate constraints for continuous cross-community mobilization. The structure of political systems and the nature of deep divisions in Northern Ireland and Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina invite a comparison of the consequences of nonelectoral political participation in these two illustrative case studies. The article concludes that while the formal political context shapes the likelihood of engagement on a cross-community basis, whether nonelectoral participation changes the structure of political decision-making depends on the willingness and ability of those involved to cooperate with formal institutional politics.

AbstractPremised on elite accommodation, consociations provide little consideration for citizens' input on institutional change. Likewise, valuable analyses of cross-community political participation in divided societies have emerged in recent years, yet whether the relationship between the grassroot and formal political process has broader consequences remains to be fully explored. The article examines the conditions in which nonelectoral participation takes place and the ways in which actors involved therein negotiate constraints for continuous cross-community mobilization. The structure of political systems and the nature of deep divisions in Northern Ireland and Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina invite a comparison of the consequences of nonelectoral political participation in these two illustrative case studies. The article concludes that while the formal political context shapes the likelihood of engagement on a cross-community basis, whether nonelectoral participation changes the structure of political decision-making depends on the willingness and ability of those involved to cooperate with formal institutional politics.

The EU accession marked the end of postcommunist institutional transition, yet the nature of relations between state institutions with their societies was far from settled. The article argues that across the East European region continuous uncertainty about the nature of the state-society compact was central to maintaining the relevance of identity in politics. This compact is best understood from the distinct perspective on who owns the state and who benefits from the current form of the state. Since, postcommunist nation-state-building was as much about the exclusion of some groups of residents from the political community as it was about limiting states' reliance on thick political ideologies similar challenges persist across the region over time. The exclusion at the foundation of the states placed "national identity" at the heart of postcommunist politics and offers considerable insights for comparison of the causes, effects and challenges of identity politics in wider Europe.

Consociationalism starts with the assumption that in divided societies there are multiple groups with reasonable claims which leads to the development of group sensitive mechanisms for political representation. While consociations are put in place to ensure the participation of groups whose past disenfranchisement from (equal) political representation resulted in violence, their disregard for individuals and identities of other, non-dominant groups is comparable to the impact of liberal democratic governments on minority groups. Both the approach observed in consociational practice and the liberal democratic approach of accommodating members of minority groups result from a preference for the political accommodation of majority group identities. Both approaches, I argue, result in the neglect of the input of minority and non-dominant groups. This effect is, principally, a result of the lack of guaranteed representation afforded to their group identities and is exacerbated by the representation of majority interests which is aggregated from individual-level participation.