The Position of the Slovenes in Austria: Recent Developments in Political (and other) Attitudes

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Priestly

The Slovene-speaking minority in Austria—when compared with many other linguistic minorities in Europe—is in an enviable position. Superficially, its minority rights are both constitutionally guaranteed and, for the most part, legally enforced; in the province of Carinthia/Kärnten/Koroška (the home of nearly all the minority; see Map 1) bilingual education is available in many communities at the primary level, and there is a thriving bilingual secondary school; Slovene is officially used in many offices and churches, and can be heard in many shops and on many street corners; there are two weekly newspapers. The picture below the surface is not quite as pleasant: there is anti-Slovene discrimination in several forms, and the pressure on minority members to Germanize themselves is strong; in particular, it must be emphasized that although the minority enjoys virtually full support from the federal government in Vienna, the provincial government in Carinthia has seldom been as favorably disposed. Still, most of the other minorities in Central and Eastern Europe can only dream of living in conditions like those of the Carinthian Slovenes.

Author(s):  
Amílcar Antonio Barreto

This chapter focuses on recent developments in the language-status front. While the PPD has opted to leave the official languages issue alone, the PNP continuously pushed bilingual education as a step towards statehood. Furthermore, the PNP sought federal intervention in the form of a federal status bill which was patently designed to torpedo the Commonwealth option. Rejecting this proposal, Congress effectively threw the Commonwealth a lifeline. Unimpaired by congressional inaction, the PNP initiated status plebiscites in 2012 and 2017. Both used techniques designed to tip the scales in statehood’s favor. Congress has ignored both of their results. In a passive aggressive manner, the federal government has consistently favored the Commonwealth and has done so not because it particularly adulates it, but because it is the status that provides the US government with the greatest flexibility to control Puerto Rican affairs.


Significance With steep reductions in public spending affecting education and social programmes, the budget signals an era of austerity in what had been Canada’s wealthiest province. One consequence is likely to be greater tension between the provincial government and the federal government in Ottawa. Impacts Major international funds will continue to divest from the oil sands sector, further depressing output as subsidies are cut. Remaining oil sands production will be increasingly automated, meaning that structural unemployment will persist. Ottawa’s refusal to contest US cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline has raised tensions with the UCP government in Edmonton. The national broad-based economic recovery expected this year will largely bypass Alberta.


2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Agarin

Strong civil society provides individuals with arenas to bring their interests to the attention of policymakers. In so doing, civil society organizations (CSOs) can support state policies, but can also criticize policies. This paper argues that most minority rights advocacy CSOs in the Baltic states have little say in the crafting of policy and are compartmentalized into the existing agendas, with only a few groups able to evaluate policies independently. It concludes that the Baltic civil society is weak because the CSOs working on minority issues ask policymakers either too much, or too little. The findings suggest that policymakers quell criticism of their work from the side of the CSOs by ignoring their activities. Alternatively, by funding the CSO that shores up the state agenda, policymakers delegate their responsibilities to civic actors, keep critical voices from public debates and claim that their policies have the full support of a vibrant civil society. This paper investigates the options available for civil society actors to relate to policymakers in a nationalizing state by drawing on the data collected in 77 semi-structured interviews with the CSOs working with Russian and Polish minorities in the Baltic states between 2006 and 2009.


Federalism-E ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74
Author(s):  
Damian John McCracken

In the early 20th Century Canada saw the rise of a prominent socialist movement led by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF's influence on Canadian politics was essential to the creation of Canada's modern political ideology, which can be described as reform liberal. This ideology took hold due to the pressure that the CCF exerted on the two major federal parties, which could both be characterized as classical liberal. Due to the settlement pattern of the prairies and the actions of the federal government in response to the Great Depression, the CCF was able to secure a strong support base that propelled it to federal politics and allowed it to form a provincial government in Saskatchewan. Though it never formed a federal government, the CCF pushed for old age pension, reforms of corporate taxation, and Medicare. As a provincial actor and a "third force" upon the two ruling federal parties, the CCF and its successor the New Democratic Party’s contributions to Canadian identity and policy are beyond dispute.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 124-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Kumar Upadhyay

The existence of child labor is not a new phenomenon as children are still engaging in all the sector of employment. The objectives of the study was to assess economic status of school going domestic child workers (DCWs), to assess the root causes of DCWs and to examine present working condition of the DCWs. To the end, 50 DCWs studying in Santi Bidhya Griha Higher Secondary School of Kathmandu are selected as respondents. The finding shows that the cause of poverty is an essential factor to increase domestic child worker. DCWs are involving in low level households activities. Their working hour is higher than study period. Remuneration paid for DCWs is very low or not paid, behave of the owner towards DCW's is low or medium in average. The bedding and fooding situations of the DCWs are not found good. Because of that most of them are not yet satisfied with their job but compelling to continue only for their school education life. At present 15 percent of the respondents are studying in primary level, 55 percent in lower secondary level and 30 percent in secondary level. Regarding job satisfaction, some of them want to kick out their job any time but some thoughtful children want to leave after completion of grade tenth. The thoughtful children want to start their professional career in teaching; business and political sectors and few of them also want to join police and army. However, they don't have the knowledge of child labour act and child right. Nepalese Journal of Development and Rural StudiesVol. 14 (Joint issue) (1&2), 2017, Page:124-128


1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
M. Christie

In the 1973 parliamentary session, the Australian Federal Government introduced acampaign to have Aboriginal children living in distinctive Aboriginal communities given their primary education in Aboriginal languages…and to supplement education for Aboriginal children with the teaching of traditional Aboriginal arts, crafts and skills mostly by Aboriginals themselves.Following that announcement, a committee was formed to investigate the possibilities of bilingual education and to direct the setting up of some initial programs. Five schools originally changed to a bilingual education program, and the number has grown to almost twenty. The original schools have now been in operation for five years, and there is a call for their evaluation. The government has expended large sums of money on the development of the programs, but there is still discussion concerning their possible future. Some of the key issues concerning bilingual education in the Northern Territory have not been resolved, and much of the development of programs was taken over by people of initiative in individual schools. This may or may not have been a good thing, but for the purposes of evaluation, we are presented with a very complex and freely structured situation. A just and constructive evaluation of all that has happened thus far will be difficult but invaluable for the government, the administrators, and the teachers.


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