Suchergebnisse

Applying a historical institutionalist theoretical perspective to the ethnic minority policy domain, the article attempts to explain why state policies toward minorities may be difficult to reverse once introduced. Focusing on a case study of the cultural status of the Vojvodina Hungarian minority in Serbia, the article attempts to find out the forms taken by self-reinforcing dynamics associated with minority-related policies, once they are de-institutionalized. The paper deals with the evolution of the concept of Hungarian cultural autonomy in Vojvodina in the context of the transition from the socialist framework of minority rights protection, applied in the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina under the 1974 Constitution, to the system established by the Law on National Councils of National Minorities and the Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina adopted in 2009, after the interim period of state centralization in the 1990s. The Vojvodina case study exemplifies the costs faced by governments aspiring to reverse these policies and allows the identification of path-dependent factors behind the collective action processes related to the main principles of these policies, and conditions that allow these principles to outlive the abolishment of respective institutional arrangements, persist across radical political and social changes over time, and re-emerge at later historical stages, in new institutional settings.

This article examines the impact of political cleavages existing in the host state on the receptivity of the political system toward minority claims, its proneness to accommodation and inclusivity toward minority political participation. Applying the theoretical framework of Political Opportunity Structure, the nation-wide political spectrum is regarded an as important element of the structure of political opportunities available to minority communities. By bringing together the cases of Russians in Estonia and Hungarians in Serbia, the article hypothesizes that in post-socialist nation-states, a higher degree of polarization of the political spectrum is more likely to expand the political opportunity structure for ethnic minorities in terms of inclusivity toward minority claims, compared to a political environment characterized by a consensus on the main directions of the country's development. The structure of established political conflicts in Estonia and Serbia are analyzed from the point of view of ethnic minority politics, assessing the effect of nation-wide cleavages on the patterns of cooperation with ethnic minority political forces and concrete impact on minority-related policies.

This article examines the impact of political cleavages existing in the host state on the receptivity of the political system toward minority claims, its proneness to accommodation and inclusivity toward minority political participation. Applying the theoretical framework of Political Opportunity Structure, the nation-wide political spectrum is regarded an as important element of the structure of political opportunities available to minority communities. By bringing together the cases of Russians in Estonia and Hungarians in Serbia, the article hypothesizes that in post-socialist nation-states, a higher degree of polarization of the political spectrum is more likely to expand the political opportunity structure for ethnic minorities in terms of inclusivity toward minority claims, compared to a political environment characterized by a consensus on the main directions of the country's development. The structure of established political conflicts in Estonia and Serbia are analyzed from the point of view of ethnic minority politics, assessing the effect of nation-wide cleavages on the patterns of cooperation with ethnic minority political forces and concrete impact on minority-related policies.

This article examines the impact of political cleavages existing in the host state on the receptivity of the political system toward minority claims, its proneness to accommodation and inclusivity toward minority political participation. Applying the theoretical framework of Political Opportunity Structure, the nation-wide political spectrum is regarded an as important element of the structure of political opportunities available to minority communities. By bringing together the cases of Russians in Estonia and Hungarians in Serbia, the article hypothesizes that in post-socialist nation-states, a higher degree of polarization of the political spectrum is more likely to expand the political opportunity structure for ethnic minorities in terms of inclusivity toward minority claims, compared to a political environment characterized by a consensus on the main directions of the country's development. The structure of established political conflicts in Estonia and Serbia are analyzed from the point of view of ethnic minority politics, assessing the effect of nation-wide cleavages on the patterns of cooperation with ethnic minority political forces and concrete impact on minority-related policies.

The article analyses the impact federalization processes may have on the dynamics of ethnic conflict in multiethnic democratic states. Parting from basic theoretical premises as regards the capacity of federalization principles to manage ethnoterritorial conflicts within multiethnic states, the Belgian and Spanish cases are chosen in order to explain the main theoretical contradiction, whether federative restructuring of a state contributes to reducing ethnic tensions, helps to mitigate divisions and fosters accommodation, or, on the contrary, provides ruling regional elites with relevant resources to fuel further disintegration. Both Belgium and Spain underwent a series of constitutional reforms pursuing the same objective to accommodate ethnic claims; however, while the Spanish solution of autonomous statutes proved to be successful in reducing the risk of state disintegration, the federalization of Belgium seems to have enhanced the cleavage. Among the main factors that contribute to system stabilization and national integration or make secession more likely, the following elements are analysed: constitutional and institutional mechanisms that are applied in specific sociopolitical contexts; type and degree of political autonomy granted to various groups; state-wide and subnational electoral and party systems and their interplay; historical experience of intergroup relations; evolution of ethnoterritorial identities.

The article analyses the impact federalization processes may have on the dynamics of ethnic conflict in multiethnic democratic states. Parting from basic theoretical premises as regards the capacity of federalization principles to manage ethnoterritorial conflicts within multiethnic states, the Belgian and Spanish cases are chosen in order to explain the main theoretical contradiction, whether federative restructuring of a state contributes to reducing ethnic tensions, helps to mitigate divisions and fosters accommodation, or, on the contrary, provides ruling regional elites with relevant resources to fuel further disintegration. Both Belgium and Spain underwent a series of constitutional reforms pursuing the same objective to accommodate ethnic claims; however, while the Spanish solution of autonomous statutes proved to be successful in reducing the risk of state disintegration, the federalization of Belgium seems to have enhanced the cleavage. Among the main factors that contribute to system stabilization and national integration or make secession more likely, the following elements are analysed: constitutional and institutional mechanisms that are applied in specific sociopolitical contexts; type and degree of political autonomy granted to various groups; state-wide and subnational electoral and party systems and their interplay; historical experience of intergroup relations; evolution of ethnoterritorial identities.

The article analyses the impact federalization processes may have on the dynamics of ethnic conflict in multiethnic democratic states. Parting from basic theoretical premises as regards the capacity of federalization principles to manage ethnoterritorial conflicts within multiethnic states, the Belgian and Spanish cases are chosen in order to explain the main theoretical contradiction, whether federative restructuring of a state contributes to reducing ethnic tensions, helps to mitigate divisions and fosters accommodation, or, on the contrary, provides ruling regional elites with relevant resources to fuel further disintegration. Both Belgium and Spain underwent a series of constitutional reforms pursuing the same objective to accommodate ethnic claims; however, while the Spanish solution of autonomous statutes proved to be successful in reducing the risk of state disintegration, the federalization of Belgium seems to have enhanced the cleavage. Among the main factors that contribute to system stabilization and national integration or make secession more likely, the following elements are analysed: constitutional and institutional mechanisms that are applied in specific sociopolitical contexts; type and degree of political autonomy granted to various groups; state-wide and subnational electoral and party systems and their interplay; historical experience of intergroup relations; evolution of ethnoterritorial identities.

The impact of interbudgetary redistribution of funds on the financial independence of local authorities is analysed in this article. The authors argue that interbudgetary redistribution of funds in Lithuania proves to be the important mean retaining the dominance of central government's on the local finances. Transfer payments from the state budget reflect the central government's policy towards local governments. Financial transfers from the state budget reinforce the role of the state institutions in the sub national finances field and restrict the financial independence of local governments. Besides this fact, local budget income equalization and revenue redistribution through the state budget does not contribute to the natural development of local financial system. Current problems, their consequences and possible solutions for increasing local financial independence had been analyzed in the article. In order to explore the practice of interbudgetary redistribution in the context of public finance system, categories of the institutionalism theory was chosen. Institutionalism provides a framework for defining the logic of state and local government institutions interaction in the process of allocating resources. Article explores the institutional interests and institutional conflicts in Lithuanian public finance institutional field. The main conflict arenas are defined as follows: redistribution of local governments' revenues through the state budget; the domination of special grants in local budgets revenue structure; and special grants for investment projects. ; Straipsnyje analizuojama tarpbiudžetinio lėšų perskirstymo įtaka Lietuvos savivaldybių finansiniam savarankiškumui. Akcentuojama, kad tarpbiudžetinis lėšų perskirstymas Lietuvoje pasireiškia kaip centrinės valdžios dominavimo vietos finansų srityje užtikrinimo priemonė, o transferiniai išmokėjimai iš valstybės biudžeto atspindi jos politiką vietos savivaldos atžvilgiu, kadangi valstybės biudžeto finansiniai transferai stiprina valstybės valdžios institucijų vaidmenį subnacionalinių finansų srityje ir tokiu būdu riboja vietos savivaldybių finansinį savarankiškumą. Todėl pagrindinis dėmesys straipsnyje sutelkiamas į tarpbiudžetinio lėšų perskirstymo poveikį subnacionalinių institucijų finansiniam savarankiškumui. Analizuojamos esamų problemų priežastys ir jų padariniai savivaldybių finansiniam savarankiškumui bei galimi sprendimų būdai. Tarpbiudžetinio lėšų perskirstymo praktikos analizei pasirinktos institucionalizmo teorijos kategorijos, leidžiančios nusakyti valstybės ir vietos savivaldos institucijų sąveikos logiką išteklių paskirstymo procese. Nagrinėjami Lietuvos viešųjų finansų institucinio lauko instituciniai interesai ir instituciniai konfliktai. Kaip pagrindinės konfliktų arenos išskiriamos savivaldybių biudžetų pajamų perskirstymas per valstybės biudžetą, specialiųjų tikslinių dotacijų dominavimas savivaldybių biudžetų pajamų struktūroje ir specialios tikslinės dotacijos valstybės investicijų programoje numatytiems projektams finansuoti.