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61. Constitutional Reform and the 'Spirit' of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Valery Perry
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Critics of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP, or Dayton Peace Agreement) have been pointing out its inherent flaws and inconsistencies from the moment the terms became public, and the real challenges of implementation quickly became clear. For the past six years there have been calls to revisit, reform, or rewrite Dayton through a variety of suggested procedures. The most aggressive voices for change have suggested convening a meeting to develop a ‘Dayton II’, which would have as its main goal solidification of the peace, rather than just termination of the war. Instead, a more subtle approach has been in practice since 1997, when the High Representative’s powers were strengthened and his mandate effectively widened. Under a more aggressive implementation policy, the GFAP would be implemented not purely according to the letter of the accords, but according to ‘the spirit of Dayton’. Defining this ‘spirit’ has been controversial and challenging, and the current debate concerning the ref orm of the Entity Constitutions to comply with the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Constitutional Court’s decision on the status and equality of the constituent peoples in BiH will be a significant step in defining both the spirit of Dayton, as well as the spirit and character of BiH as a state. This brief explores this complex issue and its potential implications for local and international politicians in BiH. First, a short background on the Constitutional Court decision is presented. Second, the options currently under discussion are reviewed, within the framework of symmetrical and asymmetrical reform alternatives. Third, the broad relevance of this single issue to the larger issues concerning the legitimacy of the current organization of the state of BiH is considered.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Minorities, Reform, Ethnicity, and Peace
Political Geography:
Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina

62. The Instrumentalization of Minorities in the Montenegrin Dispute over Independence

Author:
Florian Bieber
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The possible disintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the SerbMontenegrin tensions since 1997 stand out in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia by both the lack of violence and the secondary role ethnicity plays in the dispute. While the conflict has historical roots in the relationship between Serbia and Montenegro and the incorporation of Montenegro into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War One, its trigger was the policy of the Milošević regime towards the junior partner in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, established in May 1992. The Montenegrin prime minister at the time and later president, Milo Djukanović, sought to position himself against the Belgrade authorities and pursued a course of greater autonomy for Montenegro, resulting in the demand for independence. Despite being triggered by the Milošević regime, the dispute did not end with the fall of Milošević on 5 October 2000. In fact, Serb-Montenegrin relations – although there no longer was a threat of armed escalation through the Yugoslav authorities – have deteriorated since the democratic changes in Serbia. Today, the conflict has taken on two distinct dimensions.
Topic:
Governance, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and State Building
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Montenegro

63. Communists of Moldova and the Future of the Country's Ethnopolitical Conflicts

Author:
Pritt Jaerve
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The plans of the communists of Moldova to take their country to the Russia-Belarus Union and to give Russian the status of an official language, if carried out, may contribute to the resolution of existing ethnopolitical conflicts in Moldova. However, the same plans might lead Moldova towards a federation, trigger ethnic mobilisation of the titular nation and create new dimensions of ethnopolitical tension in Moldovan society.
Topic:
Communism, Minorities, Ethnicity, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Europe and Moldova

64. Testing Macedonia

Author:
Farimah Daftary
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The Macedonian state is being tested from all sides: by the NLA which is waging guerrilla warfare, by the ethnic Albanians who are presenting great demands, and by the international community which is exercising pressure on it to address ethnic Albanian grievances. But the Macedonian population, too, is being tested on its ability to resist provocation to engage in acts of inter-ethnic hatred; it must therefore demonstrate that the claim to being a model of peaceful inter-ethnic relations is well deserved. At the time of writing, a state of war has been averted. Furthermore, on 14 May, after lengthy negotiations, a new "government of national unity" faced its first day of work. The idea to form a broad coalition was set forth in March 2001 as a means of addressing the crisis with the participation of all political parties with representation in Parliament. However, there were many issues to be resolved between the two main (ethnic) Macedonian parties, the VMRO-DPMNE and the opposition Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), especially over the issue of early elections and distribution of ministry seats. Negotiations with the PDP were also tough (the PDP was demanding a ceasefire against the NLA before joining the coalition but it was more probably weighing the losses in NLA-sympathiser votes that it might incur by joining the government). While the support of the ethnic Albanian community of Macedonia for the violent tactics of the NLA seems to be quite low still, all will depend on whether the politicians will manage to put personal interests aside and reach an agreement as to how to address their grievances. It would be dangerous on the part of the Macedonian government to underestimate the readiness of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia to take up arms. What is also needed, in addition to high-level political dialogue, is a broad civic debate at the intermediate and grassroots level. Already, many initiatives have been launched to establish roundtables on inter-ethnic relations involving political leaders, minority representatives, experts, civil society, etc. In order to create the right conditions for genuine dialogue, what is needed is a common civic framework for resolving the question of inter-ethnic relations. The MHC calls for a citizen's approach as well as adherence to multiculturalism rather than bi-culturalism which would allow for identification with more than one ethnicity. The urgency of such a broad dialogue on legislative reform, decentralisation and other issues is evident for what is at stake is stability as well as longterm prospects for majority-minority accommodation not only in Macedonia but also in the whole of Southeast Europe. It is unfortunate that violence was needed to place the issue of inter-ethnic relations at the top of the Macedonian political agenda
Topic:
Multiculturalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Decentralization
Political Geography:
Europe and Macedonia

65. Croat Self-Government in Bosnia - A Challenge for Dayton?

Author:
Florian Bieber
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
In addition to these factors contributing to the establishment of the Croat selfgovernment, economic/criminal factors most certainly played a role.22 As the response of the HDZ to the takeover of the Hercegovačka Banka seems to suggest, the economic interests of the party and its leadership were threatened by the change of government in Bosnia and the more assertive policies of the international community in Bosnia. The Croat self-government is beyond doubt a considerable challenge to the Dayton Peace Accords. The demand of the Croat leadership for a third entity can only be dismissed with difficulty in light of the existence of a Serb entity. Despite this development being a challenge to the existing arrangement, the argument can be made that some effects have been positive. The call by the HDZ for Croat soldiers to desert the Federation army and the public display of the parallel Croat power structures have given the High Representative an opportunity to render the Federation more effective by excluding those officials, who have not only now, but throughout the past five and a half year, obstructed the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords.
Topic:
Governance, Minorities, Leadership, Ethnicity, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Europe, Croatia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina

66. Armenian Minority in Georgia: Defusing Interethnic Tension

Author:
Natalie Sabanadze
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
July 2000 was the deadline for the withdrawal of two Russian military bases in Vaziani (near Tbilisi) and in Gudauta (Abkhazia). The agreement on Russian military withdrawal was reached at the 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul, according to which the first two bases would be withdrawn by July 1 of the current year, to be followed by the two remaining bases in Javakheti (Southern Georgia) and Batumi (Western Georgia) in the near future. Russia did not meet the deadline on the Gudauta base, which has become the main source of renewed Georgian-Russian political confrontation over the past few days. However, as the talks on withdrawal intensified, the issue of the Javakheti base also came to the fore. Javakheti is the southernmost region of Georgia where the local population is predominantly Armenian. Similar to Abkhazia, the situation in Javakheti is very sensitive and could be exacerbated by the Russian military withdrawal which is strongly opposed by the local Armenian population. This at first sight benign case of base closure is thus likely to involve broader issues of regional political alliances, competing national interests, minority policies and a potential risk of yet another ethnopolitical confrontation in the region. Among the most common descriptions of Javakheti found in both journalistic and scholarly literature is that of a "potential zone of conflict", "area waiting to explode" and in the more radical accounts 'the second Nagorno-Karabakh'. Despite many contrary predictions, Javakheti managed to maintain peaceful interethnic relations and to survive in peace and relative stability. However, in order to maintain the fragile peace and cooperation much has to be done in terms of minority protection and power-sharing structures within Georgia. What follows is a brief discussion of the Armenian minority in Georgia in the context of ongoing regional geopolitical changes, interests and vulnerabilities of the states involved. In addition, Javakheti here is regarded as a zone of ethnopolitical tension which requires serious efforts, and well-developed preventive measures to avoid its deterioration into a zone of conflict.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Conflict, and Protected People
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Georgia

67. The Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of Minority Language Policies: Case Studies on Wales, Ireland and the Basque Country

Author:
François Grin and Francois Vaillancourt
Publication Date:
01-1999
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The main contribution of the monograph is to demonstrate that it is possible to assess the output and costs of various language policies in such a way as to allow an explicit evaluation and ranking in terms of their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind, because it stresses the role of common units of measurement in order to make it possible to compare policies. We have therefore attempted to develop an approach different from that adopted in many existing discussions of the implementation of language policies. Such discussions often focus on the targets chosen (sometimes elaborating on targets put forward in earlier policy documents), and on the specific measures adopted to meet these targets; sometimes they offer a descriptive presentation of the effects of such measures. For example, a language planning office may set, as a target, the increase in the level of minority language skills of all teachers and school administrators in a particular region, whether they do or do not work in an establishment which uses the minority language as a medium of instruction. The authorities can then adopt corresponding measures, such as the legal requirement that all schoolteachers meet certain proficiency levels in the minority language. If some survey, five years on, confirms that the average competence level of schoolteachers in the minority language has risen, this will be a satisfactory result, but a moderately surprising one; at most, it would suggest that the “technical effectiveness condition” (condition No. 4, Section 6.2) has been met. Such an observation would, however, be of limited help in assessing whether this particular measure is effective or cost-effective with respect to a broader end-goal, such as the revitalisation of the minority language.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Language, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe, Spain, Ireland, and Wales

68. Language Policy in Multilingual Switzerland - Overview and Recent Developments

Author:
François Grin
Publication Date:
03-1999
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Switzerland is often quoted as a success story for its handling of linguistic and cultural diversity. In this presentation, I will try to assess this success: to what extent is this reputation justified? What are the conditions that have resulted in this very particular way of dealing with diversity in a multilingual state? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the “Swiss model”? Since time and space are too limited to engage in a full-fledged historical, political, sociolinguistic and economic assessment of Swiss quadrilingualism, let alone in a comparative discussion, I will eschew the usual presentation of demo- and sociolinguistic data in favour of a more interpretative approach, with the aim to provide the reader with an analytical, rather than descriptive perspective on Swiss multilingualism today. Much relevant detail will have to be omitted, meaning that this text will concentrate on what I consider to be the essential dimensions of the problem. However, additional information (including an array of relevant figures) can be found in the references listed at the end of this paper. This paper is organised as follows. In Section 2, I review the historical foundations of Swiss multilingualism; the corresponding institutional arrangements are presented in Section 3; Section 4 is devoted to a discussion of the current challenges that Switzerland is confronted with in its handling of linguistic diversity.
Topic:
Multiculturalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Language
Political Geography:
Europe and Switzerland

69. Ethnopolitical Conflicts in Eastern Europe and the OSCE - An Interim Appraisal

Author:
Stefan Troebst
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Three levels or institutions have emerged as crucial within the OSCE framework for handling ethnopolitical conflicts in Eastern Europe—the Permanent Council made up of the OSCE Permanent Representatives of the currently 55 participating States, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the long-term missions which the OSCE maintains in over a dozen trouble spots. The OSCE shows considerable success indealing with ethnopolitical conflicts where away from its rivalry with the United Nations, NATO or the European Union it can set its sights somewhat lower — Chechnya, Crimea, the Baltic states, South Ossetia, Transdniestria, Macedonia and Eastern Slavonia. Here OSCE has succeeded in transforming conflicts that have broken out and in contributing to the prevention of future conflicts. However, major conflicts such as Bosnia-Hercegovina or Nagorny-Karabakh appear to be too unmanageable for OSCE’s still embryonic structures with its insufficient military know-how and low acceptance among major partners.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Institutions, and Oppression
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe