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11. The Conservative Party in London

Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
The session examined the long-term prospects for the Conservative Party in London following the recent Mayoral and London Assembly elections. The panel considered how the Conservative party are positioned electorally in London, and how they can attract both younger voters and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. They also discuss the policy issues that are likely to dominate the political debate in London over the next few years in the aftermath of Covid-19, and how London can, and perhaps should, relate to the rest of the United Kingdom in the future.
Topic:
Ethnicity, Domestic Politics, Conservatism, and Urban
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, and London

12. Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Roma Communities in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine

Author:
Craig Willis
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
This Research Paper focuses on economic effects experienced by Roma communities in seven non-EU states during the COVID-19 pandemic and states’ consequent lockdown measures in the first half of 2020. Roma communities in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine, were all facing socio-economic exclusion and marginalisation before the pandemic and international organisations were warning very early on that Roma communities were at serious risk during the pandemic, including in the fields of employment or loss of income. This research paper uses primary data collected from a survey of 440 Roma individuals across the seven states in order to add empirical evidence to an under-researched area. The main findings include that almost 73% of them experienced a reduced income and the major reason for this was due to access to or demand for informal work was hindered by the lockdowns. Moreover, most Roma who needed to borrow money did so through private means (family and friends) rather than through official or state institutions.
Topic:
Economics, Minorities, Ethnicity, Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia

13. The Ethics of Kin State Activism: A Cosmopolitan Defense

Author:
George Vasilev
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
A notable feature of nationalism’s contemporary resurgence is the increasing eagerness that governments have shown to support and shape the political causes of populations living abroad whom they conceive of as ethnic kindred. Governments engaged in such “kin state activism” assume a natural entitlement to speak for and assert authority over minorities and diasporas in other states, invoking a belief in common territorial, cultural, and even biological origins as a moral basis for that entitlement. A striking example of the trend is the Russian government’s declaration that it will defend the interests of ethnic Russians wherever they may be and regardless of their citizenship.1 The government has made good on this intention since 2014 through the invasion of Crimea and through support for pro-Russia secessionist fighters in eastern Ukraine. Russian officials have also made thinly veiled threats to apply the doctrine in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, where large Russian-speaking minorities reside and maintain strained relations with authorities.2 Kin state activism has also become increasingly apparent in other contexts, even though it has not involved the military coercion and flagrant disregard for international law characterizing Russia’s interventions. Examples that have made headlines recently include Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz (Federation of Young Democrats) party’s cross-border political collaborations with Romania’s Hungarians,3 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appeal to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to take action against the discrimination of Greece’s predominantly ethnic Turkish Muslims,4 and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s lobbying for electoral reform in Bosnia so that ethnic Croats there can gain increased representation.5 These and other examples typify a trend in which governments are more stridently assuming a right to protect, counsel, represent, politically organize, indoctrinate, naturalize, financially support, advocate for, and even govern populations beyond state jurisdictions on the basis of an ethnic conception of shared identity.
Topic:
Nationalism, Minorities, Citizenship, and Ethnicity
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Turkey, Greece, Hungary, and Croatia

14. National Minorities and Regional Development: A Comparative Overview of the Three Baltic States

Author:
Craig Willis
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
This Working Paper is a mapping exercise of the minority communities in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with regard to the regional development within the countries. Using census data combined with a series of regional development indicators from Eurostat and OECD Regional Well-Being, an overview of each of the countries’ regions at the NUTS Level 3 is provided, as well as a comparison across all three. This research finds, through a series of bivariate regression analyses, that within and across all three countries, there is no statistical linear relationship between the percentage of minority population in a region and multiple indicators of regional development – including GDP. Rather, the main dividing line is between capital city regions and the rest of the country/s. Yet, in peripheral regions, the regional development indicators show that regions with a large minority population are not necessarily any worse off than other peripheral regions which have a low minority population – particularly the case in Lithuania. This offers some evidence that a large minority population is not a hindrance to a region’s development. Nonetheless, the research provides an overview of the challenges in which many regions home to a large percentage of minorities possess, particularly in the areas with a high ethnically Russian population percentage. Thus, this Working Paper concludes by identifying patterns and outliers of regions in order for intensified and comparative further case study research at the micro level.
Topic:
Development, Nationalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Baltic States

15. Not Our War: Iraq, Iran and Syria’s Approaches towards the PKK

Author:
I. Aytac Kadioglu
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Terrorist violence led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is one of the major issues of Turkey since the 1980s. This violence is based upon Kurdish ethnic identity aimed towards establishing an independent Kurdish state in Turkey’s southeast, northern Iraq, northern Syria and north-western Iran. Despite this aim, the terrorist campaign of the PKK predominantly targets security forces and civilians in Turkey. However, the existence of a terrorist group such a long time raises a question of the impact of external support on the formation and maintenance of the PKK. While Turkey has criticised constantly its southern neighbours on the PKK’s activities and tactics, the regional approaches have been largely neglected in the existing scholarly literature. This article aims to close this gap by focusing on the role played by Iraq, Iran and Syria in the PKK terrorism and Turkey’s counter-terrorism policies. The article argues that the major reasons for the unsuccessful result of Turkey’s effort to destroy the PKK were the approaches of ignorance of the PKK activities and the use of the group as a trump card by the three neighbours and insufficient policies to keep under control the regional dimension of the conflict. The article critically analyses historical relationships between these three states and Turkey to explore how the regional dimension has affected the resolution of this conflict.
Topic:
Terrorism, War, Ethnicity, Conflict, and State Sponsored Terrorism
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, Asia, Syria, and Kurdistan

16. Who represents London? Ethnicity, Gender, and Party in Local Government

Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
London's local government has served as a locus for ethnic minority political engagement for decades. The local arena was an important site for black and Asian political activity during the 1960s and 70s when much of the responsibility for tackling racism was passed to local government. When the first three black MPs entered the House of Commons in 1987, they had all served as local councillors beforehand. To this day, local office continues to be a gateway into national office for ethnic minorities. Despite this, very little is known about how representative local councillors are of London's population. A new study by Queen Mary alumna Mercy Muroki and academic Prof. Philip Cowley reports local black and Asian representation across London for the first time in over 20 years. The study shows that, despite some advances, black and Asian Londoners continue to be underrepresented in most boroughs. Black men, in particular, see the poorest levels of representation whilst Asian men see the best levels. The study also found huge disparities between representation amongst Conservative and Labour councillors.
Topic:
Governance, Ethnicity, Urban, Local, Political Parties, and Gender
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

17. Turkey’s presidential system and the Kurds: Increased resentment, fragmentation, or deal-making?

Author:
Toni Alaranta
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
The Kurds are an ethnic group of approximately 35 million people, half of whom live inside the Republic of Turkey, where the conflict between the state and the Kurdish separatist PKK organization has now lasted for over three decades. After a promising peace process in 2009–2015, the AKP government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has now reduced Turkey’s Kurdish question to anti-terror operations, and marginalized the legal Kurdish HDP party, echoing the failed policy of the 1990s. Turkey is now a presidential system where power is tightly concentrated in the hands of President Erdoğan, a development directly opposed to Kurdish demands for greater local autonomy in the Kurdish-majority districts. Through the PKK network and transnational Kurdish sympathies, the fate of Syria’s and Turkey’s Kurds is now inextricably intertwined. The current way of building the new regime in Turkey is likely to produce more PKK attacks, but also widespread resentment among ordinary Kurds, including those opposing the PKK.
Topic:
Authoritarianism, Ethnicity, Separatism, and transnationalism
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Asia, and Kurdistan

18. Moldova: Four Priorities for Mainstreaming Minority Rights

Author:
Anita McKinna
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The economic and political challenges currently facing Moldova are formidable. The focus of the EU’s reform priorities for Moldova lie in the realms of combating systemic corruption, minimising the politicisation of state institutions, and improving judicial independence and financial governance. The general absence of volatile inter-ethnic tensions in Moldova has meant that minority rights here has received less international attention than other post-communist states. Advocating for the protection of the rights of minorities is reserved primarily for specific human rights defenders, and finds little space in the wider discourse regarding Moldova’s future. Yet Moldova’s geographic, historical and geopolitical location between Russia and the EU mean that it must play a delicate balancing act in which ethno-cultural harmony lies at the heart. This Issue Brief outlines the four pressing issues that currently restrict Moldova’s ethnic minorities’ participation in public life, and discusses opportunities for overcoming these restrictions to ensure stable inter-ethnic relations in Moldova.
Topic:
Governance, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Civil Rights, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe and Moldova

19. Building Bridges Within and Across Diverse Societies: The Role of States

Author:
Zora Popova
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Can national minorities be successful in bringing societies together by linking communities within and across state borders if states are not supportive to their initiatives? To open a discussion on the topic, the current issue brief focuses on the actor behind the scenes – the state – and its role in the establishment of a sociopolitical environment that if not supportive, as a minimum would not impede their efforts. By identifying and analysing several types of roles that a state can play, the paper introduces analytical models aiming to provoke a critical reflection and to emphasise that understanding complex phenomena needs a comprehensive approach and a focus both on content and structure but also in the dynamics of their interplay.
Topic:
Civil Society, Nationalism, Governance, Minorities, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe

20. Majorities and Minorities in Post-Soviet Space

Author:
Federica Prina and Aziz Berdiqulov
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The concepts of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ are challenging terms to define in a clear and precise manner, especially in the unique environments of post-Soviet space. Linking the definitional complexities of ‘majority’ to the post-Soviet and postcolonial condition, this paper examines the majority-minority dynamics through the lenses of the fluidity of groups, the interaction of communities and the power differentials between communities. In doing so, the paper analyses cases from two post-Soviet countries. First, the case of Russia illustrates contentious identification of majority and minority communities, where an alternative vocabulary for definition of ‘minority’ and ‘majority’ emerged along with alternative understanding of related concepts. Second, the case of Tajikistan looks at the interplay of majority-minority concepts and discusses how the Russian community as a former ‘political majority’ adjusts to its new status of non-dominant group, while the Tajik community becomes the single subject of the nation-building policies.
Topic:
Post Colonialism, Minorities, Ethnicity, Identity, and Post-Soviet Space
Political Geography:
Europe and Post-Soviet Europe