Minority Self-governments Research Articles

Vijeća nacionalnih manjina u Hrvatskoj kao oblik neteritorijalne autonomije – između sna i jave

This paper deals with the role of national minority councils through the prism of the concept of non-territorial autonomy. These councils were established as institutes for minority representation, aiming to strengthen the influence of national minorities on local and regional politics in the part related to their position. Similar forms of minority representation are established in most European countries and are often analysed within the concepts and distinction of non-territorial autonomy and territorial autonomy. As will be shown in the paper, territorial autonomy presupposes a much higher degree of autonomy for minority institutions in deciding on issues important for national minorities. It is more suitable for countries where these minorities reside in certain parts of the national territory. In practice, we often encounter minority political institutions that have features of non-territorial autonomy. These institutions can assume various forms and achieve different degrees of autonomy in deciding on local policies and affairs of interest to minority groups. Although councils of national minorities possess substantial democratisation potential and can significantly contribute to the position of national minorities, previous research does not support this claim. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) to determine whether national minority councils constitute an institutional form of non-territorial autonomy and (ii) to assess their actual role in promoting and protecting the interests of national minorities within local political processes. In order to examine this, the paper employs legal analysis, a review of secondary data available in scientific and professional literature, and a direct analysis of available data on the financing of national minority councils and voter participation in elections for these councils. The role of national minority councils is analysed in four aspects: the legal basis of non-territorial autonomy, the right to self-regulation, the right to establish own decision-making bodies and their scope of work, and their financing. In addition, the voter response to council elections is analysed as a possible indicator of the legitimacy of directly elected bodies. With regard to the legal basis of their establishment, it can be concluded that they enjoy the highest level of protection, having been established by constitutional law, which, due to the adoption procedure, holds a position between the Constitution and other organic laws. Furthermore, the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia guarantees members of national minorities the right to cultural autonomy, and the councils are an expression of the explicitly recognised collective rights of national minorities. They were established as a collective entity with legal personality. The legislator intended to establish councils as “minority self-government” institutions in local and regional self-government units. However, many authors state that, for a number of reasons, councils cannot be characterised as such. This brings us to their real role, manifested in the right of councils to self-regulation, self-organisation and the establishment of their own decision-making bodies as essential determinants of non-territorial autonomy. The councils adopt various acts, including a statute regulating important aspects of their operation, a work programme, a financial plan, a final account, and other internal acts governing matters crucial to their functioning. They also have their own decision-making bodies, primarily the president and deputy president of the council, and have the authority to establish other working bodies. However, the council’s powers are regulated by constitutional law and are reduced to a solely consultative role. Therefore, the question arises as to their actual influence in shaping political decisions related to the interests of national minorities, as they depend on the cooperation and will of local political actors in this regard. Another problem is the limited financial and administrative resources available for their functioning. The political legitimacy of the council, gained through minority electorate participation in elections, is also questionable, given the extremely low voter turnout across all election cycles. This is also an indicator of the council’s non-recognition as a relevant entity in protecting the rights of national minorities at the local level. To conduct a deeper analysis of the actual role of national minority councils and verify their influence in individual local communities, empirical research is necessary. The paper concludes that, although councils have a high level of legal protection, political legitimacy, internal bodies, and institutional experience, they are confined to a consultative role and lack significant influence over local political processes important for national minorities.

National self-governments in Hungary and Serbia in the context of public power decentralising solutions

The aim of the paper is to verify a thesis according to which countries which are considered to be the most representative examples of implementing the national cultural autonomy concept (Hungary and Serbia) in fact use the construct of national minority self-government, which, according to administrative law commentaries, is classified as non-territorial, or special self-government. In order to fulfill this task two decentralisation solutions which are aimed at pursuing national and ethnic minorities’ ambitions to maintain and enhance their cultural identity: national minority self-governments and national cultural autonomy has been presented. These legal constructs are not equivalent, although in international literature on the subject they are often treated as synonyms. In this context Serbian and Hungarian regulations has been presented and assessed.

Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East. From Theory to Practice, edited by Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak

Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East. From Theory to Practice, edited by Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak

Schleswig and Non-Territorial Autonomy – The Territorial Trap?

AbstractNon-territorial autonomy (NTA) is a concept to ensure political and cultural participation of national minorities in society and thus a tool to manage diversity without challenging territorial integrity. This article relates to the experience of Schleswig, which is widely perceived as a model of successful border-delineation based on national self-determination and subsequent reconciliation and accommodation of national, linguistic, and cultural binarity in a majority-minority framework. Minority membership is based on subjective self-identification and not registered.The principle of subjective self-identification and its fluidity challenge attempts to implement a legitimate, democratic structure of minority self-government. The non-definition of “minority” based on objective, measurable criteria is due to the apparent social integration of the Schleswig society: today, it is socially more divided by the national border drawn 100 years ago than by respective majority-minority divisions. It has become apparent that the territorial restriction to the boundaries of the former Duchy of Schleswig does not cohere with social practices and mobility frameworks and thus questions the present NTA infrastructure, which is restricted to a historic territory no longer relevant in contemporary administrative frameworks or in patterns of social practices.

Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak (eds), Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East: From Theory to Practice

Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak (eds), Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East: From Theory to Practice

Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East: From Theory to Practice, edited by Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak

Minority Self-Government in Europe and the Middle East: From Theory to Practice, edited by Olgun Akbulut and Elçin Aktoprak

Designing Legitimate Institutions for Non-Territorial Autonomies. Insights from the Debates within the Hungarian Communities of Serbia and Romania

Abstract In this paper, I examine some problematic aspects of minority self-governments, more specifically non-territorial cultural or national-cultural autonomy, through an analysis of the cases of the Hungarian minorities in Romania and Serbia. Although the Hungarian minority élites have put forward demands and plans for various forms of autonomy in both countries after 1990, only one particular form of minority self-government, namely national-cultural autonomy, proved to be acceptable for the majority, and eventually such a system was only implemented in Serbia but not in Romania. The focus in the article is more on the form than on the content of autonomy as the design of the institutions of self-government is of central importance also with regard to the power relations within the imagined political community of the minority. Despite the differences between the legal-institutional systems of minority protection of the two states, the patterns of minority élite behaviour were rather similar in the two analysed cases, the institutional form of the envisaged autonomy becoming a very divisive issue and exerting a strong impact on the internal political dynamics of the minorities.

Cultural Autonomy in Hungary: Inward or Outward Looking?

AbstractSince the late 1980s, the interpretations of policy toward Hungary’s minorities—most notably the country’s 1993 minority law and the minority self-governments established as part of a system of nonterritorial autonomy (NTA)—have been the subject of debates in politics and academia in at least two critical respects. Aside from the declarative character of the law, foremost has been the question of Hungary’s kin-state activism toward Hungarians abroad and the implications this has carried for domestic minority issues. A second—and related—question has concerned the extent to which cultural autonomy and minority rights are in accordance with the needs of the Roma, by far the country’s largest ethnic minority group. A growing number of scholars have accepted the argument that the minority law was enacted because of concerns regarding Hungarian minorities living in the neighboring countries. In our view, it is more appropriate to ask instead how Hungary’s kin-state policies have influenced the opportunities for domestic groups, and, in particular, how Hungary fits into the broader context of post-Communist state- and nation-building projects. This is the approach we take in this article, which aims to unpack and reconcile the complex and seemingly contradictory findings on the Hungarian case. Our conclusions are drawn from a content analysis of parliamentary debates on the minority law—something that has never previously been undertaken. This is supplemented by semi-structured interviews with former and current politicians and minority activists.

Rozwój węgierskiego prawa wyborczego po 2010 roku

After the short historical introduction the paper deals with the current electoral legislation of Hungary. The Hungarian electoral law was always complicated and the current regulation has preserved this tradition. The new electoral acts from 2011 and 2013 reshaped the mixed electoral system, which is actually open towards the members of the Hungarian diaspora living worldwide. The problem is the form of the voting. The Hungarian citizens living abroad without official residency in Hungary can vote only on the candidate lists of political parties. They can vote by post. The citizens who have also the address in Hungary can vote only at the embassies. The members of national and ethnic minorities who live in Hungary can use after the registration the special regime of representation. The candidate list of minority self-governments have to achieve at least 25% of votes, which need the candidate list of political parties to enter the Par-liament. If they did not achieve this number of votes, the unsuccessful minority can send to the Parliament its representative with consultative character. Currently only the German minority has normal mandate, other minorities have only their respective representatives. Every sophisticated and complicated electoral system is more sensitive. This is also the case of Hungary.

Transition to parenthood: New insights into socio-psychological costs of childbearing

Multiculturalism policy in Serbia is an example of compromises made by monoculturalists between the issues surpassing the conservative paradigm of tolerance for ethnic and cultural differences and the normative protection of their identities. An unsystematised approach to shaping multiculturalism policy led to disregard or misinterpretation of demographic factors. Through the examples of how the rights to ethnic and cultural identities are obstructed for the Bosniak population in Priboj and Aromanians in Serbia, and the analysis of problems stemming from the centralist organisation of minority selfgovernments, the paper points to the weaknesses of the current multiculturalism policy and the need for introducing demographic criteria for it to be brought into line with the nature of multiethnicity in the country. The paper points to the issues and difficulties arising from this for the Roma national minority in the realisation of their rights. Despite of being a large national minority, its members are not able to enjoy full cultural autonomy because the realisation of rights is not in line with the demographic characteristics of the Roma. A reform of the multiculturalism policy would remove the existing obstacles and enable effective protection of ethnic, cultural and linguistic identities of minorities. Multiculturalism policy in Serbia is an example of compromises made by monoculturalists between the issues surpassing the conservative paradigm of tolerance for ethnic and cultural differences and the normative protection of their identities. An unsystematised approach to shaping multiculturalism policy led to disregard or misinterpretation of demographic factors. Through the examples of how the rights to ethnic and cultural identities are obstructed for the Bosniak population in Priboj and Aromanians in Serbia, and the analysis of problems stemming from the centralist organisation of minority selfgovernments, the paper points to the weaknesses of the current multiculturalism policy and the need for introducing demographic criteria for it to be brought into line with the nature of multiethnicity in the country. The paper points to the issues and difficulties arising from this for the Roma national minority in the realisation of their rights. Despite of being a large national minority, its members are not able to enjoy full cultural autonomy because the realisation of rights is not in line with the demographic characteristics of the Roma. A reform of the multiculturalism policy would remove the existing obstacles and enable effective protection of ethnic, cultural and linguistic identities of minorities. Multiculturalism policy in Serbia is an example of compromises made by monoculturalists between the issues surpassing the conservative paradigm of tolerance for ethnic and cultural differences and the normative protection of their identities. An unsystematised approach to shaping multiculturalism policy led to disregard or misinterpretation of demographic factors. Through the examples of how the rights to ethnic and cultural identities are obstructed for the Bosniak population in Priboj and Aromanians in Serbia, and the analysis of problems stemming from the centralist organisation of minority selfgovernments, the paper points to the weaknesses of the current multiculturalism policy and the need for introducing demographic criteria for it to be brought into line with the nature of multiethnicity in the country. The paper points to the issues and difficulties arising from this for the Roma national minority in the realisation of their rights. Despite of being a large national minority, its members are not able to enjoy full cultural autonomy because the realisation of rights is not in line with the demographic characteristics of the Roma. A reform of the multiculturalism policy would remove the existing obstacles and enable effective protection of ethnic, cultural and linguistic identities of minorities.

Estonia: A Model for Inter-War Europe?

While Estonia's 1925 Law on Cultural Self-Government for National Minorities is often cited as a rare functioning example of Renner and Bauer's non-territorial autonomy scheme, there has until recently been comparatively little research on how the law operated in practice. This article analyses the institutions of German and Jewish minority self-government established in inter-war Estonia, arguing that (prior to the eclipse of democracy in 1934, at least) these possessed considerable depth and authoritative competence in the area of cultural and educational policy. Cultural autonomy did not resolve all outstanding points of division between state, majority and (in particular) Baltic German minority; nevertheless, it played a positive role in the regulation of ethnonational tensions. Even less well known is the international resonance of this unique law, which transnational minority activists argued should serve as a general model for the regulation of minority disputes. The League of Nations rightly questioned this claim, and the non-territorial autonomy model was scarcely applied beyond the Baltic region during the 1920s. However, it is still instructive to revisit the 1925 law today, at a time when several post-communist states have adopted minority rights legislation based on similar principles.

The identity of the Bulgarians in Hungary

The immigration of Bulgarians in Hungary was the result of the centuries-old traditions of migrant work within the Bulgarian people. In accordance with the productive activity, the way of life and the stages of resettlement of the immigrants, we can distinguish four stages in the establishment of the ethnic community. Since the 1950s, the awareness of collective identity has strengthened, and the ongoing process has become deeper and wider with the adoption of the related legal framework, the (public law) system of minority self-governments started in 1994–1995 and the increasing number of cultural institutions. The role of the old homeland in the identity has been clearly relegated to the background. The changes of the past two decades seem to indicate that evolving from a group of economic migrants, the Bulgarian community has definitely become a national minority, which has brought renewal as well as cultural and autonomous institutional development, but may also involve the risk of accelerating linguistic assimilation.

Human Rights and Ethnic Data Collection in Hungary

The article analyzes ethnic data collection pertaining to criminal justice in Hungary. With such a sensitive and delicate issue at hand, Hungary has decided on an evasive approach, resisting ethnic data collection by law enforcement authorities. The author argues that this approach has become one of the obstacles in fighting discrimination and ethnic profiling. Moreover, Hungary’s restrictive approach to ethno-national data classification also causes severe constitutional problems in other, noncriminal legal circumstances, where ethnic data is used in the context of additional rights and affirmative protection provided for ethno-national minorities. The first part of the article describes general problems relating to ethnic data collection and analyses of the Hungarian minority protection framework, in particular, the minority self-government structure (a unique constitutional institution). The second part focuses on the criminal justice system; the author’s aim is to show that prohibiting the official recognition and collection of data on ethnicity by criminal justice authorities has potentially ethnically discriminatory consequences.

Criminal Justice and Ethnic Data Collection in Hungary

The paper analyzes ethnic data collection pertaining to criminal justice in Hungary. It shows that Hungary's approach to resist ethnic data collection by law enforcement authorities is not a good policy and it causes severe constitutional problems in other, non-criminal legal circumstances, where ethnic data is used in the context of additional rights and affirmative protection provided for ethno-national minorities. The paper follows a twofold analysis. First, it sets forth general problems relating to ethnic data collection, including a brief analysis of a uniquely Hungarian constitutional institution, the minority self-government structure. The focus of scrutiny then shifts to the criminal justice system, in particular the analysis of policing of racially motivated crime, and the question of police ethnic profiling.

Preserving 'Cultural Authonomy' or Confronting Social Crisis?

In 1933, Hungary passed landmark legislation that allowed the establishment of minority self-governments for all recognized minority groups within Hungary. Written to protect minority culture and provide a forum for minority interests, this legislation has arguably had the most profound implications for the Roma/Gypsy minority in Hungary. The Roma, comprising approximately 5 per cent of the total population, from not only the largest minority group, but also have historically remained the most politically and socio-economically marginalized. Can this new institution enhance the possibility that the Roma may freely preserve their cultural heritage and traditions while becoming full members of Hungarian society, with equal dignity and social opportunity? We use data from a nation-wide survey of Roma leaders, as well as interviews and ethnographic information from local case studies to determine the activities of Roma local minority self-governments, and how these activities affect Roma communities and local...

Changing Serbian ethnic patterns in the 20th century within the borders of present-day Hungary

The main aim of the present paper is to show the time - space dynamics of the Serbian ethnic territory during the 20th century in the present-day area of Hungary, and also the changes and present state of their population number their proportion and linguistic-(ethnic) boundaries on regional and settlement level. In the last chapter we try to highlight the connection between the ethnicity and the minority self-government system of the Serbian minority in Hungary, too.

Opportunity lost? The social (dis)integration of Roma minority rights in post‐transition Hungary

In 1993 the Hungarian National Assembly enacted minority rights legislation that permitted minority self government (MSG) for Roma. The MSG mission is to take steps that assure social integration for Roma in the Hungarian society. This article introduces a mixed methodology of survey research and open‐ended interviews, to examine the effectiveness of Roma minority self‐government. It argues that social integration correlates to local MSG effectiveness and paradoxically may legitimize the social isolation of Roma.

The political significance of the first National Gypsy Minority Self-government in Hungary

(2000). The political significance of the first National Gypsy Minority Self-government in Hungary. Contemporary Politics: Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 247-262.

Minority Self-government in Slovenia

Minority Self-government in Slovenia

Social Capital and Grassroots Development: The Case of Roma Self-Governance in Hungary

This study investigates the determinants of Roma local minority self-government (LMSG) capacity in Hungary and the role of Roma LMSGs in community development. Following the work of Woolcock (1998), Granovetter (1973 ; 1985) and others, we develop and operationalize a multi-dimensional framework of aggregate-level social capital to investigate factors associated with inter-municipal variation in LMSG capacity. We analyze data from a survey of Roma LMSG leaders and demonstrate that LMSGs possess higher institutional capacity in localities where the Roma population, itself, demonstrates high levels of social cohesion ; where Roma-majority social networks are characterized by norms of trust and cooperation ; and where the local Roma government has effective institutional linkages with extra-local organizations. This study is relevant to broader questions of institutional impacts on minority-majority relations, community-level social network resources, and how the dynamics of local development in the post-socialist context are shaped by local social logics embedded within broader social and historical processes