Integration of New and Old Minorities: Beyond a Janus-Faced Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Roberta Medda-Windischer
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
International Mobility ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
And Migration ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
Minority Integration

Diversity and integration issues are undoubtedly amongst the most salient ones on today’s political agenda. Most European states have been searching for models and policies to accommodate diversity claims and integrate not only old minority groups, but increasingly also new minority groups stemming from international mobility flows. This article addresses these issues by bridging two fields of research: minorities and migration. Studying the interaction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ minority groups is not an obvious task since, so far, these topics have been studied in isolation from one other. The article investigates the alleged dichotomy between old and new minorities, their similarities and differences, especially in terms of rights and claims, and the potential extension of the scope of application of international instruments for the protection of minorities, such as the Framework Convention for the Protection on National Minorities (FCNM), as to include new minorities too. In the final part, the article analyses the states’ responses to diversity with the aim to develop a common model for minority integration encompassing old and new minority groups.

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. 

New Minorities, Old Instruments? A Common but Differentiated System of Minority Protection

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Medda-Windischer
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Policy Problems

AbstractQuestions concerning whether and how the rights of minorities should be recognised in politics, and how to maintain and strengthen the bonds of community in ethnically diverse societies are among the most salient and vexing on the political agenda of many societies. All policies that seek to reconcile social cohesion, unity and diversity are confronted with a veritable mine-field of dilemmas. Whatever policy options, or mixes of policy options, one wants to choose, one has to face hard trade-offs and serious policy-problems that have been addressed, though in different ways, by moral and political philosophers, political theorists, social scientists, lawyers and by politicians and civil servants. The present paper contends that it is possible to address these issues by bridging two fields of research: minorities and migration. Studying the interaction and complementarities between old and new minority groups is a rather new task because so far these topics have been studied in isolation from each other. It is also an important task for future research in Europe where many states have established systems of old minority rights, but have not yet developed sound policies for the integration of new minority groups originating from migration.

Understanding Muslim Prisoners through a Global Lens

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hindpal Singh Bhui
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Prison Staff ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Positive Engagement

This chapter discusses how narratives about security, extremism, and migration may be influenced by racist stereotyping, thereby undermining positive engagement between prison staff and Muslim prisoners in England and Wales. It argues that wider discourses about Muslim prisoners are dominated by a narrative of threat that draws strongly on anti-migrant feelings and racism, encouraged by growing scepticism about British multiculturalism and essentialist conceptualizations of minority groups. The chapter suggests that the damaging impact of this narrative can be challenged through better incorporation into practice of the insights of empirical research involving foreign and Muslim prisoners.

Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Affairs in Light of National Case Law

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Marko
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
National Courts ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Protection Mechanisms

Based on different concepts of nation-states, the article tries to demonstrate through the analysis of decisions of national courts that despite the same wording of the constitutional text, supreme and constitutional courts may come to totally differing conclusions in light of the constitutional history and doctrine of the respective country. The first part of the article gives an overview on case-law denying effective participation through non-recognition of ethnic diversity as a legal category, for instance through the ban of the formation of political parties along ethnic lines or through interpretative preemption of the legal status of minority groups. The second part of the article gives an overview of various legal mechanisms in order to enable, support, or even guarantee the representation and process-oriented effective participation of minorities in elected bodies, such as exemptions from threshold requirements in elections or reserved seats in parliament, and through cultural and territorial self-government regimes in those constitutional systems which legally recognize ethnic diversity. Nevertheless, the case-law demonstrates how difficult it remains to reconcile the notion of "effectiveness" with a positivistic and formal-reductionist understanding of terms such as equality, sovereignty, people or nation. The Lund Recommendations have served as an important guideline for a new, "communitarian" understanding of "effective" participation so that the author argues in conclusion that it requires more intra- and inter-disciplinary dialogue between law, politics and (legal) philosophy as well as between national and international minority protection mechanisms to "constitutionalize" this philosophy.

Especially Vulnerable Subjects and Categories in the Context of European Migration: Theoretical Regulatory Challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 533-549
Author(s):  
Encarnación La Spina
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Common European Asylum System ◽  
Vulnerable Subjects ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
And Migration ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
European Migration ◽  
Regulatory Challenges

While vulnerability and migration are boundary concepts, they have been employed as if they were somewhat neutral and univocal. Based on the umbrella theory of the vulnerability turn, the specialist doctrine has focused its critical analyses on the legal-political dimensions of the different vulnerable subjects and groups. However, migrant vulnerability has a unique impact on the regulatory field of asylum, especially given its ambiguity and lack of legislative harmonisation across EU Member States. A review of the mechanisms for identifying and protecting migrant vulnerability can provide regulatory evidence regarding the different phases of the Common European Asylum System, which in turn can lead to proposals for its reform. This study will analyse the complex and questionable use of the category of ‘vulnerable migrant’ in the main international instruments of legal protection when applied to asylum seekers. It will then present a critical comparative analysis of the national and EU asylum framework.

KRATAK OSVRT NA HAŠKU KONVENCIJU O PRIZNANjU I IZVRŠENjU STRANIH SUDSKIH ODLUKA U GRAĐANSKIM ILI TRGOVAČKIM STVARIMA IZ 2019. GODINE

2021 ◽  
pp. 407-421
Author(s):  
Slavko Đorđević ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Strong Influence ◽  
Hague Convention ◽  
Recognition And Enforcement ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
As Relationship ◽  
Paper Author

In this paper author briefly analyzes certain provisions of Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, aiming to explain the regime of recognition and enforcement which is established by this convention and to make a point to the flexibility of this convention which may have a strong influence on a number of states worldwide (including Serbia) to accept it. Having this in mind, the author provides brief presentation and analysis of provisions of HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention which regulate material scope of application, eligibility of judgment for recognition and enforcement, grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement, procedure, giving the notification with regard to the limitation of application of the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention as well as relationship between this convention and other international instruments.

Part VII Inter-linkages with Other Regimes, Ch.46 Migration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kälin Walter
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
And Migration ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter investigates the relationship between environmental law and migration law, which traditionally have had little in common and rarely interacted. Their respective subject matters are increasingly reflected as integrated issues in international instruments alongside the growing recognition that environmental factors are important drivers of forced migration as well as predominantly voluntary migration. The chapter argues that environmental law has a relevant role to play in addressing these challenges despite the fact that they are primarily within the purview of migration and human rights law. In particular, it can contribute to addressing environmental drivers of migration and mitigate displacement risks by reducing natural hazards and enhancing the resilience of populations at risk as well as dealing with environmental consequence of such human mobility. On the negative side, environmental law may contribute to forcing people out of conservation areas, unless it provides for measures mitigating such effects of environmental protection.

Group membership and radicalization: A cross-national investigation of collective self-esteem underlying extremism

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1230-1248
Author(s):  
Simon Ozer ◽  
Milan Obaidi ◽  
Stefan Pfattheicher
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
Mitigating Factors ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Collective Self Esteem ◽  
Cross National

Uncertainty, perceived threats, and a generally insecure life attachment have been associated with endorsement of extremism. Furthermore, salient identification with a group can influence radicalized ways of addressing insecure life attachment through an established and sometimes extreme worldview and ideology. In the present study, we replicated the finding that an insecure life attachment is associated with a higher degree of extremism endorsement. Furthermore, we found similarities and differences in how this association was influenced by various aspects of group membership across dissimilar contexts and among majority and minority groups (e.g., Muslims and non-Muslims) from Denmark ( n = 223), India ( n = 147), and the United Kingdom ( n = 225). Consequently, our results indicate that general social psychological processes underlie radicalization and that different aspects of collective self-esteem can be central promoting or mitigating factors. Overall, our findings suggest an important interplay among life attachment, collective self-esteem, and extremism across Western and non-Western majority and minority groups.

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