Many countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) grant preferential access to citizenship to co-ethnics living outside their borders. This overlaps with several key regional demographic trends, ...such as a dramatic decrease of fertility rates, high emigration and changes in the ethnic structure of the populations. The paper analyses co-ethnic citizenship policies of five CEE countries in order to assess their demographic impact on both the kin-states and on the communities of co-ethnics living outside their kin-state. It argues that, despite their important potential, co-ethnic citizenship policies in the region have yielded little ethno-demographic benefits. The size of both core ethnic groups in the kin-state and of co-ethnic communities living outside the kin-state has decreased throughout the region. Moreover, on several occasions, the situation of co-ethnics has worsened as a direct consequence of co-ethnic citizenship policies.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Since entering Kosovo politics in 2013, the Serb List (SL) monopolized political representation in the Kosovo Serb community. This study addresses dual questions of why a dominant party emerged ...within a distinct ethnic community in 2013, and how it monopolized representation. I argue that a dominant party was strategically developed to coordinate preferences and reduce intra-communal opposition, allowing representatives to participate uncontested in Kosovo's institutions. The dominant party constrained political pluralism and constituent engagement in the intra-ethnic arena, allowing for freer bargaining in the inter-ethnic arena. Findings from an in-depth case study of the SL demonstrate the SL was formed to curb in-group opposition to negotiated settlements and coordinate disparate political factions in distinct ethnic enclaves. It monopolized political representation by coopting parallel structures of patronage and administration, moderate parties and elite cadres, and coercive mechanisms previously deployed to enforce ethnic closure. The outcome demonstrates that dominant parties can remedy problems of consociational representation, but at the cost of intra-group competition.
This paper explores citizenship policies in Europe with the aim of testing the salience of the ethnic-civic binary distinction. The paper starts with an overview of the existing typologies of ...citizenship regimes, with a special emphasis on the civic-ethnic dichotomy. After a brief assessment of different types of selective acquisition policies in the EU, the paper discusses the emerging normative legal framework of citizenship attribution in Europe. The paper shows that the Europeanization of citizenship acquisition norms legitimizes, if not encourages, selectivity in the case of non-resident ethnic kin populations. It is also argued that due to the ambiguous international legal coding, preferential naturalization allows ethnonationalist governments to strengthen the symbolic claims of the titular national groups over the state. But quite paradoxically, these ethnically framed policies in practice often open up the possibility of the facilitated naturalization for individuals who can hardly be considered 'co-ethnics' in the thick sociocultural sense of the word. Therefore, ethnonationalist political projects that emphasize the importance the 'right of blood' may lead to the naturalization of individuals who have very weak cultural or linguistic ties to their putative 'homelands'. Thus, ethnically framed citizenship policies may water down ethnic homogeneity rather than strengthening it.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This article seeks to explain the varied policy responses to the large wave of emigration from Central and Eastern European states during the last two decades, focusing on the cases of Hungary, ...Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Differing degrees of emigrant engagement by these states are explained by the role of internal minorities as active members of the emigrant population and the overall political and demographic relevance of historical kin. This study contributes to our understanding of what shapes state policies towards different types of external populations. It also highlights the particular challenges of state-led transnational engagement in a supranational border regime.
The broad objective of this article is to explore the interaction between nationalism and Europeanisation, and the impact of this interaction on constitutionalism at the level of EU member states, ...using Hungary as a case study. The country reasserted its identity as a kin‐state after regime change in 1990, with the relationship between ethnicity/national identity and political community repeatedly taking centre stage in political life and in the field of citizenship legislation. At the same time, the country actively pursued integration into the EU, including a constitutional amendment allowing accession. Despite the potential implications of joining a supranational political entity for the definition of political community, the two parallel processes remained largely disconnected in the political discourse and the broader debate on constitutionalism in the EU has found less resonance in domestic politics than controversy over citizenship and national identity.
Abstract
A notable feature of nationalism's contemporary resurgence is the increasing eagerness of governments to support and shape the political causes of populations living abroad that are viewed ...as ethnic kindred. However, global criteria for judging when such kin state activism is and is not acceptable have so far remained elusive, as the objectionable instances of the practice tend to overshadow the legally and morally consistent ones. I argue that the analysis of world affairs and promotion of global justice would benefit from an ethic of transnational conduct that has a rightful place for kin states. I defend a set of cosmopolitan criteria for this purpose, outlining how they enable us to recognize and combat the dangers posed by certain forms of kin state mobilization without forgoing the opportunities presented by certain other forms to overcome minority repression and enhance regional security.
When politically marginal ethnic groups have transnational ties to co-ethnics in civil conflicts, the countries in which the marginal groups reside are more likely to intervene. Marginal-to-marginal ...group ties and marginal-to-dominant group ties between a group in a third-party country and actors in civil conflict increase the likelihood of military intervention. Familiar forms of ethnic ties such as politically dominant-to-marginal group ties and dominant-to-dominant group ties are merely special cases of ethnic ties between any group in a third-party country and co-ethnics in civil conflict. The article also presents evidence suggesting that ethnic ties affect how intervening countries take sides. Interveners tend to favour the government in civil conflicts when marginal groups in both countries have ethnic ties. Likewise, ties between two dominant groups are associated with government-biased interventions. In contrast, intervening countries whose dominant group has ties to a marginal group in civil conflict tend to favour the opposition. Overall, the results testify to the importance of including politically marginal groups’ ethnic ties when explaining how third-party countries behave.
Two distinct cases of kin-state relations are examined: that of Russians living in states neighboring Russia and that of Magyars living in states around Hungary. The role of kin-state relations in ...Europe is studied from a historical perspective and, with reference to Rogers Brubaker's concept of a triadic nexus between nationalizing states, a national minority, and an external homeland. It is argued that the fall of communism – and the fall of several multi-ethnic federations, in particular – revived old territorial conflicts and hostility among national groups both within and between states. The question of kin-state relations is put at the forefront of European minority issues.
After World War I the far-reaching border changes in Europe created a large number of new minorities. As a consequence, special protection measures had to be introduced. With the League of Nations’ ...minority protection system an extraordinary experiment was started. After World War II this system was largely ignored and fell into oblivion.In the past all too easily the minorities themselves were held responsible for the failure of this system. In this context it is often said that minorities behaved in a disloyal manner and therefore it was at least understandable that minority states over the years treated their minorities badly and finally denounced their obligations. In reality, however, such an attitude rests on a radical misinterpretation of the loyalty principle and on a denial of historic facts. All in all, the ideas and concepts of these times live on and are shaping modern human rights thinking.
This paper focuses on the development of national identity and the formation of political organizations in the Turkish minority in the early years of the formation of the Bulgarian state from 1878 to ...the 1940s. It studies transnational aspects of nationalism, which is usually considered territorially bounded, by studying the impact of connections between the Turkish minority and the Ottoman Empire and later with Turkey. In addition to studying inter-state relations and their reflection in the legal and political sphere, this paper studies the flow of ideas across borders, transnational networks among political activists, and the resulting cleavage formation. Findings show that transnational connections and actors played dual roles. The circulation of political activists, contributed to the formation of national organizations which played a crucial role in (re)formulating national identity. Transnational connections increased political activity in the name of the Turkish minority. Through these organizations the community was able to make collective demands from the Bulgarian state. However, transnational connections carried debates and divisions in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey to the Turkish minority in Bulgaria. By dividing the community, they decreased the capacity for collective action.
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