Cultural Autonomy Minority Rights And Globalization

This insightful and timely book analyzes the role of cultural autonomy in advancing minority rights protection on the national and global level. It assesses the historical and legal limits of the right to self-determination and autonomy and draws on Marxist internationalism, liberal nationalism and EU integrationist studies to examine the relationship between cultural autonomy and globalization. As such, emphasis is placed on the sociological and historical value of cultural autonomy, with the aim of working beyond formalistic and utilitarian approaches to cultural autonomy. The volume will appeal primarily to upper-level undergraduate and graduate level students of political science and international law interested in rethinking the role of cultural autonomy in an age of globalization.

Globalization and “Minority” Cultures: The Role of “Minor” Cultural Groups in Shaping Our Global Future is a collective work which brings to the forefront of global studies new perspectives on the relationship between globalization and the experiences of cultural minorities worldwide.

This new book delivers the first English translation of 'State and Nation' and brings together a collection of distinguished and leading political scientists to provide a detailed and critical assessment of Renner's theory of national-cultural autonomy.

This book explores a largely forgotten legacy of multicultural political thought and practice from within Eastern Europe and examines its relevance to post-Cold War debates on state and nationhood. Featuring a Preface by former UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke, it weaves theory and practice to challenge established understandings of the nation state. Eastern Europe is still too often viewed through the prism of ethnic conflict, which overlooks the region’s positive contribution to modern debates on the political management of ethno-cultural diversity, and towards the construction of a united Europe ‘beyond the nation-state’. Based on extensive archival research in Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Russia, as well as the League of Nations Archive in Geneva, this book explores this neglected multicultural legacy and assesses its significance in the post-Cold War era, which has seen the reappearance of national cultural autonomy laws in several states of Eastern Europe. Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State is invaluable reading for students and scholars of political science, history, sociology and European studies, and also for policy makers and others interested in minority rights and ethnic conflict regulation.

In this volume, some of the world’s leading scholars involved in researching the fields of ethnopolitics, nationalism and ideas of nation and state, have come together to produce a work that is both original and accessible. The volume explores the rich, but sadly neglected tradition of thought on non-territorial cultural autonomy as exemplified by the work of Karl Renner and Otto Bauer and the European Nationalities Congress of the 1920s. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and case study approaches, the authors challenge conventional thinking on how best to reconcile competing claims over territory and cultural expression. Drawing upon a range of examples from countries such as Russia, Romania and Hungary, and by comparing the situation of territorially-based ethnic minorities with those - principally the Roma - who lack identification with a given state or states, the authors of this volume seek to supply answers and question received truths.

An investigation of how the claims of minority groups for greater political power through 'autonomy' and 'secession' clash with the concerns of the nation-State, and how States' refusals to respond positively to such claims contribute to the escalation of ethnic conflicts in contemporary multi-ethnic polities. In addition, this book examines the extent to which the international community is prepared to accommodate the concerns of minority groups beyond traditionally identified 'minority rights'. The validity of claims for autonomy with shared-sovereignty, autonomy as an inherent part of self-determination, autonomy as a solution to current ethnic conflicts, secessionist and irredentist movements and their impact on peace and security are analyzed in detail. Most importantly, whether minorities as such can secede from the State in which they live by virtue of self-determination is critically analyzed. The discussion of 'peoples' in the context of self-determination is the first detailed research on this subject to appear in international and human rights literature.

The results of the students from the 30 school boards are grouped into four regions: New Brunswick, the other Atlantic provinces, Ontario, the Western provinces and the territories.2 The last chapter summarizes the main study findings and examines the ensuing educational and pedagogical consequences. [...] The institutional completeness component is the place where the main action takes place for the members of the community, the institutions and organizations of civil society. [...] Social proximity is the foundation of the model for cultural auton- omy, helping to highlight its central and fundamental role both for the vitality of the language and for the cultural autonomy of the group. [...] These are enculturation (amount of contact with the group's language and culture), personal autonomization (which ensures a person's autonomy as a learner and user of the language), and social conscientization (which encourages the development of a "critical consciousness" of the group's legitimacy and stability and sparks behaviours of involvement and leadership). [...] It rep- resents the group's management of the cultural and social institu- tions that breathe life into the group's language in the public domain (Breton, 1964) and marks the community's ability to establish and manage what Fritz Capra (2002) calls "identity borders." In fact, insti- tutions are the markers of the group's collective identity and have a major role to play in its historical continui.