National Cultural Autonomy and International Minority Rights Norms

Abstract

Debates about the treatment of ethnocultural minorities are a familiar feature of the domestic political life of many countries in Central and Eastern Europe. But these debates are not solely domestic. The international community plays an increasingly important role in shaping these debates, endorsing some models of the accommodation of ethnocultural diversity while discouraging others. The long-term prospects for national-cultural autonomy (NCA), therefore, may depend on whether it is endorsed by influential international organizations, either as a “best practice” or “minimum standard”. This article examines the attitudes of European organizations towards NCA. While NCA has not played an important role to date in the thinking of these organizations, some important actors have called for more systematic study of its potential benefits and risks. Whether European organizations adopt norms and standards promoting NCA will depend on the prior question of which minorities are seen as the intended beneficiaries of these norms and standards, and this in turn depends on unresolved questions about the underlying motivations and goals for formulating international minority rights norms in the first place.