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41. (Un)Friendly School Environments? Bully and Microagression as a Cause for Roma Children's Academic Underachievement

Author:
Andreea Carstocea
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
When it comes to education policy-making for Roma children, both research and policy-making focus mostly on issues related to segregation, access to education, poverty, and social exclusion. One item that has so far been mostly absent is a focus on the school and classroom environment, namely the prejudiced, hostile, and discriminatory attitudes and actions either of teachers or of classmates towards Roma pupils. In response to this gap, this Working Paper will focus on bullying and microaggressions against Roma pupils in schools, acknowledging it as a significant factor shaping these children’s experience at school. After reviewing the relevant academic debates on bullying and microaggressions, the Working Paper will attempt to summarise the existing evidence of bullying of Roma children in schools across Europe. Finally, following an overview of the existing recommendations by European organisations, as well as of national level policy responses to this issue, the Working Paper will conclude that there is a pressing need for comprehensive data collection, academic research, and policy-making concerning bullying and microaggressions against Roma pupils in schools.
Topic:
Education, Minorities, Children, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Academia, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe

42. The Influence of Dialogue Projects on the Reconcilation Process in Kosovo: Give Peace a Chance? - The Case of the Youth Peace Camp

Author:
Nevena Radosavlijevic
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The armed conflict in Kosovo was finished in 1999. Even though almost 20 years have passed, the process of reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians, who were the main actors of the war, is still under question. Even though most of the efforts towards reconciliation in Kosovo are attempted from the top-down level of governance, there are significant bottom-up activities as well. The aim of my research is to explore the influence of dialogue projects as a bottom-up tool to achieve the reconciliation in Kosovo. In order to explain this influence of dialogue projects, I am using the case of Youth Peace Camp (YPC) which can be seen as a dialogue project, organized by the Council of Europe. Through the empirical research about the Youth Peace Camp, my research seeks to find elements of reconciliation recognized by a theoretical framework. According to this framework, reconciliation can be seen as space where two sides of the conflict are meeting in order to work on (re)building relationships; where they speak of the past and share their sufferings and experiences, work on acceptance of each other without feelings of hatred, change perceptions by getting to know the “other” and work on a common, interdependent future. Based on survey and questionnaires with previous participants of the YPC, as well as on the participant observation and interviews with participants at the YPC 2018, I found correlations between the YPC impact and reconciliation. The results of this study are emphasizing the positive impact of the dialogue projects such as YPC on the reconciliation process in Kosovo. The biggest influence of the YPC is made on the theoretical components such as relationship building, experience sharing, mutual acceptance and the changing of perceptions. The aspects of acknowledgment and future planning are also tackled and recognized in my empirical research, but not in the same range as the other components. The overall impact of the Youth Peace Camp on the reconciliation process in Kosovo can be seen as a positive one. Since there is no negative influence, the main recommendation of this research is to implement and organize these kinds of projects as much as possible in order to foster the reconciliation process. Besides the practical implementation, more academic research is needed.
Topic:
Governance, Minorities, Youth, Peace, and Reconciliation
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania

43. Roma Policy-Making in Romania and Bulgaria: In Need to Prioritise Combating Anti-Gypsyism

Author:
Andreea Carstocea
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Policies instituted with a view to improving the situation of the Roma in Romania and Bulgaria in recent years have resulted in very limited positive outcomes, as evaluated by international organisations and independent NGOs. Based on a broad outline of these policies, this Working Paper will argue that recognising the impact that anti-gypsyism has on the lives of the Roma, as well as strongly prioritising actions to combat it, represent fundamental conditions for improving the situation of this community.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, NGOs, and Identity
Political Geography:
Europe, Bulgaria, and Romania

44. The Trembling of a Complex Regional Consociation: 2018 Provincial Election in South Tyrol

Author:
Guido Panzano
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Located in the northeastern part of Italy, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen, also known with the historical name of South Tyrol, is one of the two provinces of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region. It is a border region and a deeply divided place, with a majority of German-speaking population (62.3%) and minorities of Italians (23.4%), Ladins (4.1%) and past and recent migrants (10.2%). On the 21st October 2018 almost 400,000 South Tyrolean citizens (69.1% Germans, 26.4% Italians, and 4.5% Ladins) casted their vote to elect the Provincial Council. This Working Paper therefore aims to analyse the party competition in this electoral campaign, underling specificities and evolutions of such a peculiar political system.
Topic:
Minorities, Elections, Local, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy

45. The Mixed Tale of Croatia;a Implementation if the FCNM: Successful Legislative and Institutional Implementation Marred by Local Administrative Resistance and Misapplication

Author:
Dimitrios (Jim) Molos
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
With the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), the Council of Europe recognized that national minority protection was essential for European “stability, democratic security, and peace”. Yet, because the FCNM is nonjusticiable, and because its monitoring mechanism is voluntary and highly discretionary, many legal commentators’ initial predictions were ambivalent or pessimistic. Two decades and several monitoring cycles after the FCNM entered into force, there is sufficient data to begin assessing the accuracy of the initial predictions. This working paper answers a narrow question: to what extent have the FCNM’s monitoring procedure and the Advisory Committee’s recommendations been effective in facilitating Croatia’s implementation of its legal obligation under the FCNM? In brief, the Croatian implementation record reveals mixed results. Whereas Croatian authorities have made significant progress toward full and effective constitutional, legislative and institutional implementation of their FCNM obligations, this success has been marred by resistance and disobedience at the level of local application. An analysis of Croatia’s progress demonstrates that its national minority protection measures are not properly characterized as legislative lip-service, and that even though Croatia has much work to do to fully implement the FCNM, including on several issues of pressing concern, its real progress should be neither underestimated nor devalued. Ultimately, there are good reasons to be optimistic about the FCNM’s monitoring procedure’s ability to encourage States Parties to enhance their national minority protection, particularly at the legislative and institutional levels.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Legislation, Identity, and Protected People
Political Geography:
Europe and Croatia

46. National Minorities Vis-A-Vis Political Developments in Their Kin States. The Case of Flensborg Avis Newspaper

Author:
Sergiusz Bober
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Numerous national minorities residing in Europe produce their own printed or on-line media. In most of the cases, the content such minority media offers, includes also information regarding developments (political, economic, social) taking place in kin states. This Working Paper, through the analysis of content published in Flensborg Avis (the newspaper of the Danish minority residing in the bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein), aims to examine how such information is presented. In other words, does minority media rather passively convey content concerning aforementioned developments or actively participate in debates taking place in their kin state? Another related question is also addressed: does minority media feel obliged to follow the political line currently dominant in a kin state? The conducted analysis shows that Flensborg Avis is an example of a minority media actively engaged in debates concerning issues important for Denmark and presenting views not infrequently on a collision course with narratives dominating there.
Topic:
Nationalism, Minorities, Media, Ethnicity, Identity, and Information Technology
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

47. Formation of Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Turkey: From Social Movement Theories Perspective

Author:
Rahman Dag
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Current politics in Turkey proves that the roots of the Kurdish question have to be taken under strict examination in order to diagnose the problem so that a permanent solution might be found. With this in mind, this paper tries to explain the emergence of the pro-Kurdish nationalist movement, the PKK, via social movement theories. What makes this paper significant is that it examines the process of emergence in three phases via three different social movement theories. For Turkey’s single party era (1923-1950), relative deprivation theory is applied. In the second phase, political opportunity theory is matched with the onset of the multi-party system under the rule of the Democrat Party (1950-1960). Finally resource mobilization theory is applied to the time period between 1960 and 1980. In general, the theoretical approaches chosen are selected in accordance with certain socio-political realities of Turkey. This helps to explain how an ethnic minority ended up with a socially – but not legally – representative organization when they are relatively deprived and obstructed politically. If not all, a certain amount of mobilization of the Kurdish people could result in a social movement, be it is legal or illegal.
Topic:
Nationalism, Social Movement, Minorities, and Community
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

48. Cultural Policing: Police and Minorities in Berlin | Le policier et le culturel. Police et minorités à Berlin

Author:
Jérémie Gauthier
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Berlin police precincts, this article focuses on the so-called “intercultural prevention” policy implemented in Berlin since the early 2000s. The author analyzes how police work is informed by a culturalist framework, particularly regarding Muslim communities. The article shows how the link between prevention strategies and the culturalist approach to the treatment of minorities has broadened the police mandate, making police work closer to social work. Yet, this culturalist framework has ambivalent effects: on the one hand, it limits the effects of individual stereotyping during police interventions; on the other hand, it produces forms of reification of groups labeled as “cultural minorities.”
Topic:
Sociology, Minorities, Ethnography, and Police
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Germany

49. Roms on Integration II: Analyses and Recommendations

Author:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
This volume contains the second set of reports on research conducted by the Romani Expert Groups for Romani Integration. The Expert Groups were established in fall 2004 as a follow-on to the fi rst global assessment of the needs of Macedonia’s Romani population, which the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) conducted the previous year with the generous support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Sida has also provided support for the current initiative from its inception.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, Language, and Integration
Political Geography:
Europe and Macedonia

50. Policy and Legislative Challenges to Non-Discrimination, Minority Protection and Diversity Issues in Ukraine

Author:
Iryna Solonenko
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Ukraine is a country populated by many national groups. As recorded in the 2001 census, the main national groups2 living in Ukraine (apart from Ukrainians, which constitute the majority) include: - Russians 8,334,100 (17.3%) - Belarusians 275,800 (0.6%) - Moldovans 258,600 (0.5%) - Crimean Tatars 248,200 (0.5%) - Bulgarians 204,600 (0.4%). Ukraine also has smaller populations of Polish, Jewish, Romanian, Armenian, Hungarian, and other groups; altogether 100 different national groups according to the census. In some territories of Ukraine national minorities live so compactly that in some settlements (towns or villages) they comprise the majority or over one-third of the population. This is the case in the Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi, and Odesa oblasts (regions), as well as in Crimean Autonomous Republic, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014. As in many countries, ethnic and linguistic borders do not necessarily align in Ukraine: many of those who think of themselves as belonging to certain national groups (as reported by 2001 census), speak another language. Thus, although 4.6% of the Ukrainian population reported they belonged to a national group other than Ukrainian or Russian, only 2.9% named a language other than Ukrainian or Russian as their native language. Only 0.1% of them considered Ukrainian to be their native language. Between 1% and 89% of them (depending on ethnicity) consider Russian to be their native language. For instance, among Hungarians this share is 1% and among Greeks it is up to 89%. While 17% of the Ukrainian population said they were of Russian ethnic affiliation, 26.6% named Russian as their native language, indicating that a share of people who consider themselves to be of non-Russian ethnic affiliation regard Russian as their native language.
Topic:
Nationalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, and Language
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and Crimea