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This second volume of the book series Nova Collectanea Africana focuses on the relations between minorities and politics in independent Africa. Politics and Minorities in Africa gives an account of political participation of African minorities from their own point of view, instead of analyzing it from the majority's perspective. Rather than keeping the traditional distinction between Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa, Politics and Minorities in Africa encompasses a relevant number of African countries, analyzed through several case studies. The book is divided instead into four thematic sections: Identities, Elections, Religion and Boundaries and Territories. Each chapter presents an original contribution, drawing from different disciplinary approaches. This results in a multifaceted and multidisciplinary overview of the issue.

Source at https://doi.org/10.17238/issn2221-2698.2017.27.165 . ; В статье рассматривается взаимосвязь между наукой и политикой в исследованиях меньшинств в период с 1979 до середины 1980-х гг. в Университете Тромсё. На исследование оказали влияние различные условия того времени, такие как политические события и приоритеты и идеологические потоки в академических кругах. Три фактора повлияли на выбор темы, приоритетов и подходов к исследованиям меньшинств в Северной Норвегии. Первым фактором было возведение дамбы на реке Алта-Каутокейно, затем борьба за права саамов и политические изменения в отношении саамского населения в Норвегии. Каковы были последствия этой политики для исследований в академической среде в Северной Норвегии? Вторым фактором стала исследовательская программа, проводимая Норвежским общим научно-исследовательским сове-том (NAVF). Анализ соответствующих тем и тематических областей в исследованиях меньшинств осуществляется на основе этой исследовательской программы. Наконец, будут использоваться методологические и исследовательские политические дискуссии по эмическим и этическим позициям, которые были значимы в 1980-х гг. Только ли саамы или также исследователи, принадлежащие к этническому большинству, имели право проводить исследования саамов? Источниками явились внутренние документы, отчёты, научные статьи и устные сведения из UiT. ; English abstract : The article examines the interplay between science and politics in minority research in the period 1979 to mid-1980s at the University of Tromsø. Research was influenced by different conditions at the time, such as political events and policy priorities and ideological of streams in academia. Three factors influenced the choice of theme, priorities and approaches to minority research in North Norway. The first factor was the damming of the Alta-Kautokeino river, followed by Sami rights struggle and political changes towards the Sami population in Norway. What consequences did the political case for the research for the academic environment in the Northern Norway? The second factor was the research program run by the Norwegian general scientific Research (NAVF). An analysis on the relevant themes and focus areas within minority research is undertaken on basis of the research program. Finally I will use the methodological and research political discussions on emic and etic research positions that took place in the 1980s. Was it the Sami themselves, or also the researchers belonging to the majority that had the right to pursue research on the Sami? Sources consist of internal documents, reports, research papers and oral sources from the UiT.

Through an exploration of the representation of ethnic minorities in the museums of Kunming, Yunnan Province of China, this article discusses the active role that museums play in the processes of memory and identity engineering, whereby museum images and narratives are used to support collective imagination about ethnic minorities' identities and past. Drawing from a comparative analysis of museum displays in Kunming, I discuss how the image of ethnic minorities is conveyed through a selective process of i) remembering and emphasizing specific cultural elements, ii) forgetting other elements, and lastly, iii) modifying the perception of ethnic minorities relation to the Han majority. By revealing the extent and modalities through which museum representations manipulate ethnic minorities' identities in China, the analysis aims to contribute to our understanding of the multiple ways in which museums act as sites for the enactment of collective memory and imagination.

Regional politics play a decisive role in national politics when region poses ethnic groups in competing manner. Sri Lanka's Eastern province has been a contested region in terms of ethnic and territorial integration as well as the integration of majority and minorities from the independence of the country, during civil war, and in the post-civil war era. This study explores the ethnic groups' competition for political control and autonomy, as well as its impact in Eastern Sri Lanka. This study has employed both qualitative and quantitative data, collected mainly through secondary sources such as literary books, book chapters, journal articles, newspaper cuttings, and government documents, which are analyzed and presented through interpretive and descriptive manners. The study has found that the Eastern province has been a contested choice for the ethnic majority to extend their ethnic domination, and to implement ethno-centric development-cum settlement policies and programs, all of which are ultimately induced to change the ethnic composition of the region and pushed ethnic minorities to mobilize and demand for more decentralized power and autonomy in the region. The thirty-year prolonged civil war made the region not only a war-torn, but also let to undermining regional democratic principles, including minorities' rights for autonomy. The study also reveals that the new emerging post-war political context at the provincial and national levels continues to undermine the minorities' hopes for autonomy in the region. Nevertheless, the region has emerged as 'role-model' for ethnic cohesive politics.

Using a state-level panel data set on the incidence of hate crimes in India, this paper implements difference in difference (DID) and triple difference in difference (DDD) research designs to estimate the causal impact of the right-wing BJP's win in the 2014 parliamentary elections on hate crimes against religious minorities (Muslims, Christians and Sikhs). Comparing the periods 2009-13 (pre-election) and 2014-18 (post-election), I find that BJP's electoral victory caused an increase in the incidence of hate crimes against religious minorities in India.

This study is devoted to politics of nationalism under Bulgarian communism (1944-89). The research aims to analyse the actual content of the Bulgarian communist policies on three main national questions and the ideas behind them. How did Bulgarian communism understand nation and nationalism? How did the Bulgarian Communist Party policy on issues of nationalism change over time? What was the legacy of communist politics of nationalism after the fall of the regime in 1989? This thesis focuses on three national questions in Bulgaria: `the Macedonian Question', the position of the ethnic Turkish minority, and the politics of Jewish identity. It argues that revealing the ideas behind the communist policies in relation to these questions explains how communism understood national identity in Bulgaria. Chapter 1 provides an overview of theories of nationalism and communism in relation to Bulgarian communism. Chapter 2 analyses the understanding of communist internationalism and nationalism of the founders of Bulgarian communism and their followers in the contest of Marxism, Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism. Chapter 3 discusses Bulgarian communist mythology and argues that under communism Bulgarian national mythology was at the basis of promoting cultural nationalism which in its own turn was used for political mobilisation against ethnic diversity. Chapters 4,5 and 6 are dedicated to the three national questions mentioned above and their development under communism. Chapter 7 examines politics of nationalism after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria in 1989 and argues that by promoting cultural nationalism based on ethnic homogeneity the policies of the BCP in relation to ethnic minorities determined the politics of nationalism during post-communism in Bulgaria. The chapters are linked by the argument that Bulgarian communism changed its original idea of building a communist ration-State as a political community with class identity at its core to building an ethnically homogenous nation-state with ethnic Bulgarian identity as its organising principle.

As recently as November 1988, the then Minister for Justice, Gerry Collins, speaking in Seanad Éireann during the Second Stage of the Prohibition of Incitement to Racial, Religious or National Hatred Bill, remarked that Ireland was "essentially a homogeneous society" and "despite our membership of the European Community and, therefore, our close relationship with a number of societies which are becoming increasingly multiracial, the racial structure of this country is unlikely to change significantly for some time to come." Whereas Collins viewed Ireland as a homogenous society in the late 1980s, this is certainly not the case today. A look at the 2011 census reveals that 544,357 non-Irish nationals were living in the Republic of Ireland, an increase of 143% since 2002, representing 199 different nations. The change in Ireland's demographics has coincided with a transformation in Ireland's reputation as one of being a socially conservative society dominated by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, to one of Ireland being a leading exemplar for human rights and tolerance throughout the world. This was most epitomised by the 2018 repeal of the eighth amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann, which had placed a constitutional ban on abortion since the divisive referendum of 1983, and the 2015 marriage equality referendum. It is within this context that the tenth issue of Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies focuses on "Minorities in/and Ireland" as a means of contextualising the important role minorities have played in Irish society. "Minorities in/and Ireland" comprises ten essays divided up into four sections: "Queer Representations in Literature"; "Home and Away: Notions of Irishness"; "Theatre and Minorities' (In)Visibility"; "Resilience: Travellers and Magdalene Survivors", which broadly address issues such as: the representation of LGBT individuals, exiles, migrants, and refugees in Irish literature; LGBT migrants and political activism; the role of theatre as a medium of giving voice to minorities like Ireland's Jewish community and those with disabilities; and the resilience of Ireland's Traveller community and survivors of Magdalene Laundries. The essays are not confined to one period, instead, they span from the late 1800s to the present day, covering both the North and South of Ireland as well as regions outside Ireland. Combined, these essays provide an insight into a changing Ireland. ; -- 1. Queer Representations in Literature -- 2. Home and Away: Notions of Irishness -- 3. Theatre and Minorities' (In)Visibility -- 4. Resilience: Travellers and Magdalene Survivors

The article examines contemporary memory politics in Belarus as exhibited by new monuments to Holocaust victims, the genocide of the Roma people, and the mass killings of representatives of the Polish minority during World War II. It analyses various instances of the exploitation of the mythology of World War II for daily political purposes. Dr Kotljarchuk draws parallels with memory politics in Ukraine, and its conciliation with Poland and Russia with which Belarus shares similar problems, namely the very limited commemoration of the genocide of the Roma and the swift rate of memorialisation of the Holocaust.

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020.

While members of regional and ethnic minorities can reach the highest echelons of power, in most contexts they remain politically marginalized and under-represented in formal politics. The heterogeneity of regional and ethnic minority groups creates a challenge for the study of representation if one wants to avoid the traps of essentialism and unrealistic assumptions. The inclusion of regional and ethnic minorities in legislatures and government can increase trust, alleviate conflict, and provide substantive representation. Much evidence shows that, on average, representatives of regional and ethnic minorities work in the name of their respective groups, especially in 'low-cost' activities like asking parliamentary questions. Such substantive representation should be the guiding principle, but the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation seems moderated by the context in which legislators operate.

The Minorities question is currently a hot issue in Europe. But what are the concerned minorities and to which of them should the existing – national and international – legal instruments apply? Amongst the States of the New Europe, Latvia, with its important immigrant population, offers a striking example of the current minority problematics. The study of this Baltic country reveals the main issues about this question and shows why there are currently reasons to broaden the traditional concept of national minorities. I also shows how some countries have undertaken to instrumentalize this trend to turn "their" minorities in neighbouring states into political instruments. ; La question des minorités et de leur protection est aujourd'hui un thème brûlant en Europe. Mais de quelles minorités parle-t-on et à lesquelles d'entre elles doivent s'appliquer les nombreux instruments juridiques – nationaux et internationaux – développés au cours de ces dernières décennies ? Parmi les États de la "nouvelle Europe", la Lettonie offre un exemple éclairant de la problématique minoritaire actuelle. L'étude de ce pays permet de mettre en relief les principaux problèmes rencontrés et notamment de faire apparaître pourquoi la tendance actuelle consiste à étendre la portée du concept de "minorité nationale". Si des raisons objectives militent en ce sens, une analyse objective de la situation montre que certains États s'efforcent aussi de transformer "leurs" minorités dans des États voisins en instruments politiques.

Recently, F. Rosen has reminded us that, although Bentham was one of the greatest advocates of democracy, he never thought democracy should be government by the people. As a democrat, all his efforts were limited to the feasible, to reducing the harm caused bay "sinister interests", resulting form government by the "ruling few". John Stuart Mill accepts this idea of inevitability of minorities in politics and he went further than Bentham with his argument, in favour of a limitation of the suffrage. Mill had already put forward, in general, a vindication of minorities in fields such as society, morality, religion, art, sexual freedom. He summed up that attitude in On Liberty, in his legitimation of that extreme minority, the individual, where he upheld the importance of respect for eccentricity. The respect for individuality was already presente in Bentham (the defence of homosexuality, for example), but his enthusias for the objectivity of the rational prevented him from reaching Mill's much more coherent conclusions. The examination of their different attitudes enables us to consider the value of an active role for minorities in society, a role that must be closely controlled when it leads them to the exercise of political power. ; Recientemente, Fred Rosen nos ha recordado que, aunque Bentham fue uno de los grandes defensores de la democracia, él nunca pensó que la Democracia debiera ser el gobierno del pueblo. Como demócrata todos sus esfuerzos se limitaron a lo accesible, a reducir el daño causado por los "intereses siniestros" que proceden del poder de los pocos que gobiernan. John Stuart Mill acepta esta idea de la inevitabilidad de las minorías en la política y va más allá que Bentham con su argumento a favor de una limitación del sufragio. Mill ya había sostenido una defensa de las minorías en dominios como la sociedad, la moralidad, la religión, el arte o la libertad sexual. Resumió esta posición en On Liberty con su legitimación de la minoría extrema, el individuo, en la que sustentó la importancia del respeto por la excentricidad. El respeto por la individualidad siempre estuvo presente en Bentham (la defensa de la homosexualidad, por ejemplo), pero su entusiasmo por la objetividad de lo racional evitó que llegara a las mismas conclusiones mucho más coherentes de Mill. El examen de sus diferentes actitudes nos permite considerar el valor de un papel activo para las minorías dentro de la sociedad, un papel que debe estar estrechamente controlado cuando las conduce al ejercicio del poder político. ; This paper has been developed inside a research project supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education.

Using a novel state-level panel data set for the period 2009-18 on the incidence of hate crimes in India, and a difference in difference (DD) approach, this paper investigates the causal impact of the right-wing, Hindu nationalist BJP's win in the 2014 national elections on hate crimes against religious minorities. Using 2009-13 (pre-election) and 2014-18 (post-election) as the before and after periods, I estimate a standard DD model, where the treatment group consists of states where BJP won the largest share of popular votes in 2014, to get an initial estimate of the causal impact. I strengthen this result with a treatment intensity approach where BJP's vote share in 2014 functions as the treatment intensity. I instrument it with BJP's vote share in the previous national elections in 2009 to estimate the causal impact. I supplement the linear models with quasi-Poisson regressions to take account of the count data nature of the incidence of hate crimes. All approaches show that BJP's electoral victory in 2014 caused an increase in the incidence of hate crimes against religious minorities. I investigate three plausible mechanisms that might generate the result: laxity of state-level law enforcement; economic competition between religious groups; role of social media. I find evidence that weakening of state-level law enforcement is the key mechanism driving the rise in anti-minority hate crimes. This paper contributes to contemporary studies of the adverse impact of rising ethno-nationalist populism on marginalized social groups by investigating the case of India.

The dissertation studies how individuals respond in their well-being, behavior, attitudes and preferences to changes in their personal life and in society. It consists of three chapters applying economic perspectives and methodologies in the fields of labor economics and political economy. The second chapter investigates the effects of partnership dynamics on subjective well-being. The third chapter explores the symbolic functions of marriage on the stability of formal partnerships. Both chapters are with a special focus on sexual minorities. The fourth chapter, also the last chapter, studies how economic insecurity and cultural backlash have shaped the current populist attitudes and preferences, and have triggered the populist voting behavior in the United States.

Yemen is home to religious and sectarian minorities who represent about 0.5% of the total population. In addition to Muslims, there is a minority of Jews, who's presence has drastically shrunk over the years due to the multiple violations and displacement they were subjected to. Yemen also has a Bahai minority, who are currently estimated to number around 2,000 individuals. They also have been subject to harassment and repeated violations by the militias currently controlling northern Yemen, where the majority of these minorities lived. In addition to these religious minorities, th ere is another minority that represents the largest minority in proportion to the overall population. It is a minority group that has faced marginalization and organized racism from both society and the state. They are the Muhamasheen (marginalized) minority, or as they are locally known "Akhdam" – a negative term that takes a racist dimension towards this group. Despite the different historical narratives regarding the origins of this group – which are characterized by their dark skin color – historical records confirm that they have been in Yemen for centuries. However, they have been subjected to the most severe levels of discrimination, violations and deprivation at all levels of life. One of the loopholes that affect the rights of minorities as citizens is the various interpretations of the Yemeni constitution in the laws and provisions that have led to the discrimination against them. This book, which includes brief reports on the situation of the major minorities present in Yemeni society, tries to shed light on the status of those minorities, as an essential part of the work that we do at INSAF Center for Defending Freedoms & Minorities. As we believe that information is the first step in order to reach precise treatments to remedy this situation, especially when it comes to minority rights and freedoms. The book contains five reports on five different minorities, four of which are religious minorities, namely Judaism, Christianity, Baha'i, and Ismailism. The fifth is on the racially discriminated group Muhamasheen (marginalized) minority. Resources for the book range from a number of historical sources such as books and scientific research, as well as a number of reports published by international and local organizations concerned with defending minorities and fighting for their rights, in addition to several private sources that we were able to obtain by interviewing spokespersons and individuals from those minorities. It can be said that this book is the first of its kind to deal with the situation of the various minorities in Yemen, where previous publications generally focused on single problems that some minorities faced. The book provides historical background information about these minorities, then an explanation of the social, political and economic realities they face, all the way to reviewing the violations against them, particularly at the present time. This will aid in planning for more in-depth research, or in the design of practical programs, either to increase awareness of the rights of these minorities and ways to support and protect them. This should not only protect these minorities, but it will certainly help to create a harmonious society that believes in pluralism and cooperation for peace in the future.