Special Politics for Minority Political Participation in the Danish-German Border Region

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-71
Author(s):  
Adrian Schaefer-Rolffs ◽  
Kai-Uwe Schnapp
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
State Government ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
German Minority

This article aims to explain how Denmark and Germany face the task of ensuring minority protection and the preservation of cultural diversity by way of recognising the national minorities’ needs for special attention. Both countries have installed different mechanisms that are designed to compensate minorities for their disadvantages as a group. Despite the fact that the equally well-developed structures on both sides of the border warrant a comparative analysis of the mechanisms in place, the disparity in the field of political participation receives particular attention in this article. By way of analysing results from an online survey carried out in 2010, this article shows how differently the minorities perceive the character of two special institutions for direct contact with political decision-makers. The Danish government and the state government of Schleswig-Holstein both introduced a contact person for the minorities within their area of responsibility. Our research has made interesting findings with regards to the composition of these institutions. It seems that the service offered by the geographically more distant Secretariat to the German Minority in Copenhagen is rated favourably, whereas the locally more present Commissioner for Minorities and Culture of Schleswig-Holstein has been a disappointment to the Danish minority.

“Serbs” in Bela krajina: a (deliberately) forgotten minority?

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-194
Author(s):  
Romana Bešter ◽  
Miran Komac ◽  
Mojca Medvešek ◽  
Janez Pirc
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Border Region ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
National Minorities

There are three constitutionally recognized national/ethnic minorities in Slovenia: the Italians, the Hungarians and the Roma. In addition, there are other ethnic groups that could perhaps be considered as “autochthonous” national minorities in line with Slovenia's understanding of this concept. Among them is a small community of “Serbs” – the successors of the Uskoks living in Bela krajina, a border region of Slovenia. In this article we present results of a field research that focused on the following question: Can the “Serb” community in Bela krajina be considered a national minority? On the basis of the objective facts, it could be said that the “Serbs” in four Bela krajina villages are a potential national minority, but with regard to their modest social vitality and the fact that they do not express their desire for minority status, the realization of special minority protection is questionable.

Protest und Partizipation

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Accepted Practice

In democracy, political participation is seen as the most important way for citizens to communicate information to political decision-makers (Sydney Verba) and the bureaucracy affiliated to them. Protest plays a special role here among the political and cultural varieties of participation, since it can be seen as a symptom of democratic defects or as an expression of a living, transformative democracy. Civic education situates itself in relation to this particular form of expression of political culture in a multidimensional way: it transmits basic democratic values to educational institutions and marks the boundaries of accepted practice of protest quite differently. This can also result in a transformative practice of protest (Banks), which is also discussed in this volume. In it, the authors resurvey the field of political education according to the conditions of the current crisis-ridden transformation in democracy. This anthology was created to document the 2017 Münster Conference of the DVPW-Committee on Political Science and Civic Education.

scholarly journals Linking Democratic Preferences and Political Participation: Evidence from Germany

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 24-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergiu Gherghina ◽  
Brigitte Geissel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Extensive Body

An extensive body of literature discusses the disaffection of citizens with representative democracy and highlights increasing citizens’ preferences for political decision-makers beyond elected politicians. But so far, little research has been conducted to analyse the relations between citizens’ respective preferences and their political behaviour. To address this void in the literature, our article investigates the extent to which citizens’ preferences for certain political decision-makers (politicians, citizens or expert) have an impact on their retrospective and prospective political participation. Our analysis draws on data from a survey conducted in autumn of 2014 on a probability representative sample in Germany. Results indicate that respondents favouring politicians as decision-makers focus mainly on voting. Those who favour citizens as decision-makers are more willing to get involved in participatory procedures, while those inclined towards expert decision-making show mixed participation.

scholarly journals Ochrona praw mniejszości narodowych w orzecznictwie Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka oraz Komitetu Praw Człowieka ONZ – analiza porównawcza

2014 ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
Grażyna Baranowska
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Case Law ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
European Court ◽  
Religious Clothing ◽  
State Schools

The article analyses case law concerning national minority protection in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and UN Human Rights Committee. The protection of national minorities is realized through protecting individual right of persons belonging to minorities. Due to significant amount of cases and given the importance of discussed issues, the analysis is restricted to three topics: names, education and political participation. The case law has set some important standards in those areas. In most of the analyzed aspects the approach of both organs has been the same, for example in regard to names and surnames of persons belonging to national minorities. The research also showed areas in which the case law was not consistent – while examining cases concerning the same French law regarding wearing of religious clothing by students in state schools, the UN Committee, contrary to the Court, found a violation by the state. However, in the vast majority of studied subjects, the jurisprudence of the Court and Committee is very similar and allows to formulate an international standard of national minority protection. Among national minorities indigenous people enjoy in some aspects greater protection than other groups, which is particularly evident in the Committee decisions.

scholarly journals Policy framing and crisis narratives around food safety in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
pp. 251484862094151
Author(s):  
Christophe Béné ◽  
Nozomi Kawarazuka ◽  
Huong Pham ◽  
Stef de Haan ◽  
Huynh Tuyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
State Government ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Food System ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Policy Framing ◽  
Crisis Narratives ◽  
Policy Agendas

While progress has been made recently in understanding food systems per se, much less is known about policies around those food systems. In this paper, we aim at understanding the food system policy context with the specific objective to look at policy dynamics—defined as the way policy agendas are identified, justified, and framed by decision-makers, and how they interact. Vietnam is used as a case study. Primary data were generated through face-to-face interviews complemented by an online survey. A policy framing approach was used to structure the research. The analysis reveals how the policy agenda is considered by many actors to be only partially evidence-based and highlights the extent to which the state government remains the most powerful actor in the setting of that agenda. The research also reveals the diffusion of the food safety crisis narrative beyond its original technical domain into a larger number of policy framings related to other issues of food systems, thus making it de facto the “center of gravity” of the current agenda on food systems in Vietnam. Yet, a comparison with data from other countries challenges this narrative, and reveals instead how the (legitimate) public concern about food safety is being instrumentalized by certain groups of actors to advance their own agenda. The implication of this “distorted” framing is the risk for the decision-makers to “overfocus” their attention on this short-term issue and lose sight of some other longer-term structural trends such as the emergence of obesity in Vietnamese urban population.

New minorities, old instruments? Diversity governance from the perspective of minority rights

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-192
Author(s):  
Roberta Medda-Windischer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Scope Of Application

In international law, minority rights instruments have been traditionally conceived for, and applied to, old minority groups with the exclusion of new minority groups originating from migration. Yet, minority groups, irrespective of their being old or new minorities, can be subsumed under a common definition and have some basic common claims. This allows devising a common but differentiated set of rights and obligations for old and new minority groups alike. This paper argues that the extension of the scope of application of legal instruments of minority protection, such as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), is conceptually meaningful and beneficial to the integration of new minorities stemming from migration. 

Two Theories of Effective Government

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the problem of “reform capacity” (the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole, by adjusting public policies to changing economic, social, and political circumstances). The chapter also reviews the long-standing discussion in political science about the relationship between political institutions and effective government. Furthermore, the chapter explains why the possibility of compensation matters greatly for the politics of reform; provides a precise definition of the concept of reform capacity; describes the book's general approach to this problem; and discusses the ethics of compensating losers from reform; and presents the book's methodological approach.

Do different types of organizational trust matter to employees’ commitment? A case study from Oman

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Moaz Gharib ◽  
Kamaal Allil ◽  
Omar Durrah ◽  
Mohammed Alsatouf
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Employee Commitment ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Organisational Trust ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Practical Implications

PURPOSE: Trust is vital to all positive relationships. This empirical study explores the effect of three facets of organisational trust (trust in supervisors, in co-workers and in the organisation) on employee commitment in Salalah Mills Co. in the food industry in the Sultanate of Oman. METHODOLOGY: Data were collected via an online survey sent to all employees working in Salalah Mills Co., Oman. The final sample consisting of 102 responses with a response rate of 54 percent were analysed using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The findings revealed that two facets of organisational trust (trust in co-workers and trust in supervisors) were found to have a significant positive effect on employee commitment, while trust in the organisation was found to have no significant effect. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Trust in supervisors and trust in co-workers directly affect employee commitment. Therefore, managers should consider promoting both of these forms of trust to enhance employee commitment. VALUE: Although previous studies have examined the link between organisational trust and employee commitment, a focus on Oman and the food sector has been particularly rare, so this study offers new insights. The findings will help decision-makers on design strategies and policies to improve employee commitment through trust.

scholarly journals Are there similarities between the Corona and the climate crisis?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Decision Procedures ◽  
Free Rider ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Look Back ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Climate Crisis

AbstractIn this short paper, I look back at the early stages of the Corona crisis, around early February 2020, and compare the situation with the climate crisis. Although these two problems unfold on a completely different timescale (weeks in the case of Corona, decades in the case of climate change), I find some rather striking similarities between these two problems, related with issues such as uncertainty, free-rider incentives, and disincentives of politicians to adequately address the respective issue with early, farsighted and possibly harsh policy measures. I then argue that for complex problems with certain characteristics, it may be necessary to establish novel political decision procedures that sidestep the normal, day-to-day political proceedings. These would be procedures that actively involve experts, and lower the involvement of political parties as far as possible to minimize the decision-makers’ disincentives.

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