The Minority Question In Europe

2nd Part : Annexes

Provides an overview of the efforts undertaken to develop an international instrument regulating the position of minorities since the late 1980s.

Ethnic diversity is on increase in Europe; at the same time, there is evidence of growing anti-immigrant feeling in some countries, such as Spain (especially in the Southern provinces). In order to build a politically united and democratic Europe, the accommodation of ethnic diversity and the integration of ethnic minorities are both key challenges. This book tries to explain ethnic problems in Europe.

A highly topical examination of the effect of European integration on relations between states and minority nations. This new collection brings together the leading specialists in the field, and covers a wide range of cases, from Northern Ireland in the West, to Estonia and Latvia in the East, and Cyprus in the South-East. The contributors assess how European integration has affected the preparedness of states to accommodate minorities across a range of fundamental criteria, including: enhanced rights protection; autonomy; the provision of a voice for minorities in the European and international arena; and the promotion of cross-border cooperation among communities dissected by state frontiers. The comprehensive chapters stress the importance of the nationality question, and the fact that, contrary to the hopes and beliefs of many on the left and right, it is not going to go away. Beginning with an introductory essay that summarizes the impact of European integration on the nationalities question, this accessible book will be of strong interest to scholars and researchers of politics, nationalism, ethnic conflict and European studies.

CONTENTS.

The question of minority rights - if minorities should enjoy group rights and if so what the concomitant responsibilities are - is one that lies at the center of the political debate in Europe.

Minorities in European Cities examines the issues pertaining to the dynamics of social integration and social exclusion of immigrant minorities at the neighbour-hood level. The book looks at the question of the participation and exclusion of migrants in the field of economics . The study focuses on social relations at the neighbourhood level and their impact on the exclusion/inclusion process as well as forms of political exclusion of migrant origin population in the local politics and policy-making processes. Finally, Minorities in European Cities examines the ways in which conceptions of law and order and security, as well as the local institutional praxis they engender, effect exclusion/inclusion opportunities.

The situation of the Roma in Europe, especially in the former communist states, is one of the more important human rights issues on the agenda of the international community, especially in the Euro-Atlantic bodies of integration. Within European states that have Roma populations there is a growing awareness that the matter must be confronted, and that there is a need for a concentrated effort to solve social problems and ease tensions between the Roma and the European nations among which they dwell. This volume is the result of an international conference held at Tel Aviv University in December 2002. The conference, one of the largest held among the academic community in the last decade, served as a unique forum for a multidisciplinary discussion on the past and present of the Roma in which both Roma and non-Roma scholars from various countries engaged.