Minority Rights

The dislocated, deterritorialized discourse produced by repatriates from formerly European colonies has remained overlooked in academic scholarship. One such group is the Eurasian “Indo” community that has its roots in the former Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia. This article focuses on Tjalie Robinson, the intellectual leader of this community from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. The son of a Dutch father and a British-Javanese mother, Robinson became the leading voice of the diasporic Indo community in the Netherlands and later also in the United States. His engagement resulted in the foundation of the Indo magazine Tong Tong and the annual Pasar Malam Besar, what was to become the world’s biggest Eurasian festival. Robinson played an essential role in the cultural awareness and self-pride of the eventually global Indo community through his elaboration of a hybrid and transnational identity concept. By placing his focus “tussen twee werelden” (in-between two worlds) and identifying “mixties-schap” (mestizaje) as the essential characteristic of Indo identity, Robinson anticipated debates on hybridity, transnationalism, and creolism that only much later would draw attention from scholars in the field of postcolonial studies. This article highlights Robinson’s pioneering role in framing a deterritorialized hybrid alternative to nationalist essentialism in the postcolonial era.

Le 12 avril 2014, les Chefs coutumiers Kanak ont adopté dans leurs aires coutumières respectives la "Charte du Peuple Kanak - socle commu des valeurs et principes fondamentaux de la civilisation Kanak". Ce texte a ensuite été solennellement proclamé à Nouméa le 26 avril en présence de l'ensemble des autorités coutumières. Ce travail de constitution de socle commun des valeurs et de rédaction engagé par le Sénat coutumier Kanak suscite l'admiration des personnes versées dans les questions de décolonisation, de justice, de mémoire et de développement.
Ainsi, l'émergence de la revendication autochtone dasn un nouveau contexte socio-politique est d'abord une entreprise décolonisatrice (I). C'est pourquoi la démarche autochtoniste bouleverse les principes constitutionnels et les institutions politiques et adminsitratives de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (II).
Le présent texte discute du contexte de l'adoption de la Charte, de l'organisation du peuple Kanak et propose des réflexions sur ce nouveau pas vers l'autodétermination des Kanak.

The few works on the Yezidi Genocide that have appeared thus far have mainly focused on the violence perpetrated against the Yezidis and no work has attempted the construction of a general historical narrative covering the essential political dimensions of the Genocide and its aftermath. This chapter begins to address this need by providing a basic chronology and description of pivotal episodes in the political history of the Yazidi Genocide.

Across the world, governments design and implement policies with the explicit goal of promoting social justice. But can such institutions change entrenched social norms? And what effects should we expect from differently designed policies? This book is an empirically rich study of one of the most extensive electoral quota systems in the world: the reserved seats for the Scheduled Castes (SCs, the former “untouchables”) in India’s legislative assemblies. Combining evidence from extensive quantitative datasets, archival work, and in-depth interviews with politicians, civil servants, activists, and voters across India, the book explores the long-term effects of electoral quotas for the political elite and the general population. It shows that the quotas for SCs have played an important role in improving social justice for SCs in some ways, primarily by weakening the status hierarchy associated with the caste system. The extent and nature of the gains in social justice have not, however, been what all advocates of these quotas had expected or hoped for. This is a study of India, but the findings and discussions have broader implications. Policies such as quotas are usually supported with arguments about various assumed positive long-term consequences. The nuanced discussions in this book shed light on the trade-offs inherent in how these policies are designed, and lays the groundwork for a comparative research agenda on the politics of inclusion.

A sequel to the groundbreaking volume Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions, the present volume examines in depth interactions between Western racial constructions of East Asians and local constructions of race and their outcomes in modern times. Focusing on China, Japan and the two Koreas, it also analyzes the close ties between race, racism and nationalism, as well as the links race has had with gender and lineage in the region. Written by some of the field's leading authorities, this insightful and engaging 23-chapter volume offers a sweeping overview and analysis of racial constructions and racism in modern and contemporary East Asia that is unsurpassed in previous scholarship.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables
Conventions
Preface

1. Introduction: The Synthesis of Foreign and Indigenous Constructions of Race in Modern East Asia and Its Actual Operation, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel
I. Antecedents: A Detailed Examination of Early Western Racial Constructions of East Asians
II. Interactions: The Fusion of European and Asian Constructions of Race
III. Nationalism: Interactions between Race and Ethnic Nationalism in East Asia
IV. Gender and Lineage: The Impact of Domestic and Foreign Racial Constructions

PART I: ANTECEDENTS
2. East Asians in the Linnaean Taxonomy: Sources and Implications of a Racial Image, Rotem Kowner and Christina Skott
The Linnaean Revolution and View of Humankind
Sources of Linnaeus’ Racial Perspective on East Asians
The Essence of Asia: Swedish Views of China
Swedish Reports and Linnaeus’ Revision of His Human Taxonomy
Linnaeus’ Legacy and the Unfolding Racial View of East Asians
3. Constructing Racial Theories on East Asians as a Transnational “Western” Enterprise, 1750-1850, Walter Demel
The Founding Fathers of Racial Theories: Linnaeus, Buffon, Kant and Camper
The Second Generation: Multiple Directions
4. The ‘Races’ of East Asia in Nineteenth-Century European Encyclopaedias, Georg Lehner
Classifying the Peoples of Asia
The Encyclopedias' Main Sources for Remarks on the “Races” of East Asia
Chinese, Japanese and Koreans: Descriptions of East Asian peoples
Stereotypes of East Asians in General Knowledge
Visual Representations of Race in Works of General Knowledge
Concluding Remarks
5. The Racial Image of the Japanese in the Western Press Published in Japan, 1861-1881, Olavi K. Fält
Background
The Oldest People on Earth
The Shining Japanese Race
Weak and Inferior Race
Praising the Endeavors of a Poor Race
Conclusion

PART II: INTERACTIONS
6. The Propagation of Racial Thought in Nineteenth-Century China, Daniel Barth
The Background: Imperial China and the “Other”
Stage I (1846-1851): Marques and Wei Yuan
Stage II (1851-1855): Hobson and Muirhead
Stage III (1855-1872): The Self-Strengthening Movement
Stage IV (1872-1892): John Fryer and the Chinese Scientific and Industrial Magazine
Conclusion: Chinese Intellectuals, Social Darwinism and Race
7. Learning from the South: Japan's Racial Construction of Southern Chinese, 1895-1941, Huei-Ying Kuo
The South Seas as Japan’s Backyard, 1895-1914
Japan's Expansion into the Southern Chinese Networks, 1914-1928
Chinese Anti-Japanese Nationalism and Japanese Discourses on South Seas Chinese, 1928-1936
Southern Chinese as Non-Han Races, 1936-1941
Conclusions
8. “The Great Question of the World Today”: Britain, the Dominions, East Asian Immigration and the Threat of Race War, 1905-11, Antony Best
Immigration and “the Awakening of Asia”
The Prophets of Race War
Critics of White Solidarity
Finessing the Racial Divide
Conclusions
9. “Uplifting the Weak and Degenerated Races of East Asia”: American and Indigenous Views of Sport and Body in Early Twentieth-Century East Asia, Stefan Hübner
Sportive Citizenship Training in the Philippines
Chinese Cooperation and Acceptance of American-Style Modernization
Japanese Resistance and its Defeat by American Style Modernization
Conclusion
10. Racism under Negotiation: The Japanese Race in the Nazi-German Perspective, Gerhard Krebs
Early Nazi Views on the Japanese Racial Position
Becoming More Aryan
The Problem with the Japanese in the Nazi Worldview
Continuing Mutual Mistrust
The End
11. Discourses of Race and Racism in Modern Korea, 1890s-1945 , Vladimir Tikhonov
Race and Its Uncertainties
The Emergence of Race Theories in Modern Korea: One of the Logics of the “Civilized World”
“Race” and “Ethnic Nation” in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945
Conclusion: Race as a Path to Modernist Self-assertion?
12. The United States Arrives: Racialization and Racism in Post-1945 South Korea, Nadia Y. Kim
Contextual Background: America Marches In and Mass Mediates
The American Military, Whiteness, and Imperialist Racial Formation
American Mass Media, White Heroes, and Counter-Hegemony
Blackness and Imperialist Racial Formation
Racism and Invisibility in Korean “America”
Concluding Remarks
13. A Post-Communist Coexistence in Northeast Asia? Mutual Racial Attitudes among Russians and Indigenous Peoples of Siberia, David Lewis
Discrimination against Siberian Peoples as an Outcome of Racial Prejudice
The Origin and Legacy of Russian Attitudes to Asians
Racial Attitudes among Indigenous Siberian Peoples
The Communist Model of Racial Modus Vivendi
The Impact of Prolonged Racism on Indigenous Siberian Peoples
Marriage as an Anti-Racist Means in a Multi-Racial Society

PART III: NATIONALISM
14. Nationalism and Internationalism: Sino-American Racial Perceptions of the Korean War, Lü Xun
Descendants of the Mongolian Hordes: American Perceptions of the Chinese
The Ambitious Wolf: Chinese Perceptions of Americans
The Mirrored Self: A Nation-State in the Making
15. Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Racialized Chinese Nationalism, Yinghong Cheng
Gangtai Patriotic Songs: A “Colored” Political Genre of Pop Music
A Tacit Collaboration between the Party-State and Capitalist Cultural Producers in Hong Kong and Taiwan
The Interaction between Gangtai Patriotic Songs and Chinese Popular Nationalism
Analyses
Concluding Remarks
16. Japanese as Both a “Race” and a “Non-Race”: The Politics of Jinshu and Minzoku and the Depoliticization of Japaneseness, Yuko Kawai
The Historical Trajectories of Jinshu and Minzoku
Being a “Race” and a “Non-Race” in Present-day Japan: An Empirical Study
Conclusions and Implications
17. Ethnic Nationalism in Postwar Japan: Nihonjinron and Its Racial Facets, Rotem Kowner and Harumi Befu
Premises of Nihonjinron
Nihonjinron as a Manifestation of Japanese Nationalism
Nihonjinron and Its Concern with Origin, Blood and Racial Hierarchy
The Impact of Race-Related Tenets on Everyday Life
Functions of Ethnic Nationalism in Contemporary Japan
Concluding Remarks
18. Ethnic Nationalism and Internationalism in the North Korean Worldview, Tatiana Gabroussenko
The Soviet Discourse of the Outside World: Conditional Internationalism
The North Korean Worldview in the “Soviet Era”: Echoing the Soviet Paradigm
Mono-Ethnicity as a Special Korean Virtue: The Evolution of the North Korean World Vision under the Influence of Juche
North Korean Propaganda about Foreigners from Inclusive and Alienating Perspectives
Conclusion

PART IV: GENDER AND LINEAGE
19. In the Name of the Master: Race, Nationalism and Masculinity in Chinese Martial Arts Cinema, Kai-man Chang
From Anti-imperialist Nationalism to Cultural Nationalism
Masculinities That Matter
Conclusion
20. Sexualized Racism, Gender and Nationalism: The Case of Japan’s Sexual Enslavement of Korean “Comfort Women”, Bang-soon Yoon
Korean “Comfort Women”: Drawn in as Substitutes
The Nature of Victimization
Colonial Policies and the Mobilization of Korean Women
Treatment of Korean “Comfort Women”
Lives under Sexual Slavery
Nationalism, Gender and Sexual Violence
Conclusion
21. “The Guilt Feeling That You Exist”: War, Racism and Indisch-Japanese Identity Formation, Aya Ezawa
Power, Discourse, and “Mixed Blood”
The Indisch and the Dutch East Indies
The Indisch Community under Japanese Occupation
Indisch-Japanese Relationships
Indisch-Japanese Descendants
Conclusion
22. ‘The “Amerasian” Knot: Transpacific Crossings of “GI Babies” from Korea to the United States, W. Taejin Hwang
“An Act of Both Humanity and Patriotism”: The Amerasian Immigration Act of 1982
“Confucius’ Outcasts”: The Korean Amerasian “Plight”
Inter-country Adoption of Korean “GI Babies”
Living as a “Mixed-Blood Child” (Honhyeola) in Cold War Korea
“Half-American Also is American”: Towards Migration
Conclusion and Postscript

PART V: CONCLUSIONS
23. The Essence and Mechanisms of Race and Racism in Modern East Asia, Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel
The East Asian Contribution to the Study of Race and Racism
East Asia’s Role within the Rise of Racial Theory and the Resulting Hybridity
Sources and Manifestations of Racism
The Close Links between Racism and Nationalism
The Role of Gender and Lineage in Constructions of Race and Racism
East Asia and the Future of Race and Racism
Contributors
Bibliography
Index

Nell’elaborato viene presentata un’analisi della situazione relativa alla tutela delle lingue minoritarie in Europa e in Italia. Tale analisi si basa sulla nozione di “diritto linguistico”, derivata dal concetto di “diritto umano” e che riguarda la protezione delle minoranze linguistiche. A un’indagine sulla genesi e la definizione di “diritto linguistico” segue l’esame delle politiche linguistiche dell’Unione europea. L’Unione europea non può però agire direttamente sulle politiche linguistiche degli Stati membri, ma solo finanziare la promozione e la tutela delle lingue minoritarie tramite programmi di finanziamento gestiti dalla Commissione europea. L’ultima parte dell’elaborato è dedicata alle politiche linguistiche attuate in Italia nei confronti dell’italiano, delle lingue minoritarie e dei dialetti. L’Italia, infatti, è interessata dalla presenza di numerose lingue minoritarie a cui bisogna riconoscere una particolare serie di tutele per favorirne la promozione e la salvaguardia all’interno del panorama linguistico italiano.

Parole chiave:

Lingue minoritarie, diritti linguistici, politiche linguistiche, Unione europea, lingue minoritarie in Italia, dialetti in Italia, progetti europei.

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept the adaptation costs of political and economic transformation. However, the Europeanisation approach has not produced the expected results. The track record of the EU’s policies towards Bosnia represents a paradigmatic case of what would happen if almost nothing works as efficiently as in the case of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The article investigates the causes of EU policy failure in Bosnia and claims that the EU has not effectively responded to three challenges: 1) adjust the process to the needs of an ethnically divided post-war state; 2) preserve the credibility of accession conditionality, and 3) convey the proper messages on how to comply with EU rules. Therefore, the article argues for a more cohesive and consistent EU approach towards Bosnia.

Among the deficiencies demonstrated by the world financial crisis of 2008–9, one was the limited capacity of G-8 to provide for global economic governance. The developed economies quickly realised that they should seek joint solutions and coordinated policies in cooperation with the leading emerging-market economies. As a result, the G-20 turned into the main forum for managing the crisis. This in fact pointed to an early institutional acknowledgement that important changes were underway in the global distribution of power. These changes derive from the substantially higher growth rates of the emerging-market economies in comparison with those of the developed economies, a trend named ‘the rise of the rest’ (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 2–3).

It is sometimes argued that the non-therapeutic, non-consensual alteration of children’s genitals should be discussed in two separate ethical discourses: one for girls (in which such alterations should be termed ‘female genital mutilation’ or FGM), and one for boys (in which such alterations should be termed ‘male circumcision’). In this article, I call into question the moral and empirical basis for such a distinction, and argue that all children—whether female, male, or intersex—should be free from having parts of their genitals removed unless there is a pressing medical indication.

This article argues that the post-Dayton political organisation of Bosnia represents an exemplary illustration of the difficulties associated with the empirical application of the pluralist model of “consociational democracy”. The country’s political system has been predicated on the existence of consensus and the spirit of cooperation among the three ethnic groups without, however, offering any electoral or political incentives to their leaderships to cooperate. Also, the inclusion of several elements to the Dayton accords of a partition approach to conflict resolution has even encouraged the ethnic leaderships to maintain their nationalistic programs and their endeavours to exploit the aforementioned power-sharing arrangements. Indeed, the structural deficiencies of the Dayton agreement have permitted nationalists to continue implementing their ethnic
agendas and have accounted for the slow progress towards the implementation of the Bosnian peace process. Therefore, this article elaborates on the international policies in Bosnia, aimed at transforming the country into a viable multiethnic state, and highlights the significance of motivations for implementing the peace process.

Patterns of Nationhood and Saving the State in Turkey tackles a  theoretical puzzle in understanding the state policy changes toward minorities and  nationhood, first by placing the state in the historical context of the international system and second by unpacking the state through analysis of intra-elite competition in relation to the counter-discourses by minority groups within the context of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.
What explains the persistence and change in state policies toward  minorities and nationhood? Under what conditions do states change their policies toward minorities? Why do the state elites reconsider the state- minority relations and change government policies toward nationhood? Adopting a comparative-historical analysis, the book unpacks these  research questions and builds a theoretical framework by looking at three paradigmatic policy changes: Ottomanism in the mid-19th century, Turkish nationalism in the early 1920s, and multiculturalism in Turkey in the early 2000s. While the book reveals the role of international context, intrastate elite competition, and non-state actors in such policy changes, it argues that state elites adopt either exclusionary or inclusionary policies based on the idea of “survival of the state.”

During the Republican era, “the question of minorities” was an important issue for the rulers of the state, as it was in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire. Unlike the Ottoman Empire, the Republican leadership adopted the policy of building a new nation. This policy had significant effects on the demographic and economic structure of the minorities, on the rights given to them by the Treaty of Lausanne, and on their religious, educational, and cultural institutions. In this study, state policies towards minorities are analyzed by taking the main historical developments into account in different periods, starting from the One-Party era until today, within the framework set by the Lausanne Peace Treaty. In the empirical part of the study, the policies towards non-Muslim minorities are attempted to be identified through in-depth interviews conducted with the representatives of these minority groups. To this end, several interviews are conducted with the representatives of Greek-Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish communities and the problems are analyzed under five categories; education, endowments (vakıflar), foreign policy, citizenship, and the administration of the community. These interviews demonstrated that there are some positive developments as a result of the democratization steps and several reforms in the European Union adjustment process. However, it is also seen that these developments are not sufficient to meet the needs of the religious minority groups. Nevertheless, for the period starting from the early 2000s, in which new policies has launched in Turkey, it is evaluated that we are entering into a new phase, where relations are being situated on legal grounds instead of religious contexts. Moreover, in this study, it is argued that this new phase opens up new opportunities for non-Muslim minorities especially on the questions of endowments and fundamental rights, similar to the significant developments in the case of other social groups in Turkey.

Opracowanie: Weronika Kundera (część wystąpienia związanego z pracą doktorską-2012 r.) Ustawa o mniejszościach narodowych-kontrowersje. W kraju typowo jednokulturowym, pozbawionym w okresie PRLu szans na poznanie obcości i zalet istnienia grup obcych narodowych na jego terytorium, prawne usankcjonowanie mniejszości było zagadnieniem wzbudzającym wiele emocji. Prace nad projektem ustawy o mniejszościach narodowych i etnicznych oraz języku regionalnym trwały przez wiele lat, a samo jej wprowadzenie napotykało na liczne opory 1. W związku z trudnymi dla Polski doświadczeniami historycznymi (zabory, II wojna światowa, walki o terytorium prowadzone z państwami sąsiedzkimi) przyznanie praw mniejszościom, porównywano z ze zdradą stanu i nielojalnością wobec własnego narodu, któremu winno służyć wyłącznie państwo polskie oraz polskie prawodawstwo. Z mównicy sejmowej padło wiele emocjonalnych argumentów, o jej antynarodowym charakterze 2, o jej szkodliwości dla normalnych relacji społecznych3, o ponownym rozbiciu państwa polskiego, o zdradzie i uprzywilejowaniu obcych, o spisku niszczącym Polskę 4 , o wątpliwym patriotyzmie mniejszości narodowych, których członkowie posiadają często paszporty dwóch państw, w związku z czym, nie jest jasne, któremu z nich służą 5, o bezmyślności, związanej z brakiem 1 Pierwszy projekt ustawy o mniejszościach powstał przy Komitecie Obywatelskim przy Lechu Wałęsie, w latach 80. Prace nad ustawą trwały również za kadencji J. Kuronia, który nazwał ustawę " wzmocnieniem słabszych ". 2 W PSL, głosującym przeciwko ustawie o mniejszościach narodowych i etnicznych pojawiły się głosy o rozdzieraniu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. " Przywiązani do tradycji i wartości narodowych zdecydowanie opowiadamy się za odrzuceniem wszystkich poprawek Senatu, które za wszelką cenę chcą przeforsować antynarodowe zapisy, które zamiast łączyć dzieliłyby ". Sprzeciwiając się ustawie, posłowie podkreślali, że mają na celu ochronę języka polskiego, będącego " dumą całego narodu ". V. Trapani, " Inni " w polskich debatach sejmowych. Przykłady dyskursywnego konstruowania tożsamości przez większość i mniejszości narodowe /w:/ A. Jasińska-Kania, S. Łodziński, Obszary i formy wykluczenia etnicznego w Polsce, Warszawa 2009, s. 86. 3 4 Do spisku niszczącego Polskę odwołała się również partia J. Kaczyńskiego. Posłowie tej partii mówili wówczas o układzie z mniejszościami i o sprzedaniu państwa polskiego. 5 " Pytam się również, kiedy rząd polski zrobi porządek (…) z wymuszoną ekonomicznie mniejszością niemiecką na Śląsku, w okolicach chociażby Głogówka. Jak to jest możliwe, że przynajmniej kilkadziesiąt obywateli polskich, w tym potomków powstańców śląskich ma w kieszeni 2 paszporty? Wobec kogo będą oni lojalni, czy są lojalni? Komu służą? (wypowiedź posła A.S. Stryjewskiego LPR)

Dr David Roberts argues that matters normally prioritized as security issues in international politics, such as terrorism and nuclear weapons, cause very limited harm, and that preventable global infant and maternal mortality, counted in the millions, is dismissed from security agendas by policy makers, who are mostly white, mostly male, and mostly secure. He will argue that the security needs of the most vulnerable do not resonate with the people who determine what security those people can have; and that international law does not apply to the public institutions which most undermine human security. Dr Roberts will propose a fast-working solution to this dilemma that will reduce the scale of deaths substantially almost overnight, and will identify the means by which this change can be effected.

El concepte de Seguretat Humana és present avui dia en la majoria d'anàlisis de les ciències socials, i es caracteritza per ser un terme amb significats molt variats i amplis. Tot i això, el concepte presenta una força que radicaria, d'una banda, en la seva capacitat per definir una nova realitat en la qual l'Estat no pot continuar el seu monopoli en les qüestions relatives a la seguretat (es passa de la Seguretat Nacional a la Humana), i de l'altra, en el seu potencial per construir sinèrgies i sumar esforços amb l'objectiu d'aconseguir el canvi social.

D'aquesta manera, la idea de Seguretat Humana ha estat capaç d'aglutinar moviments socials, intel·lectuals i diplomàtics a l'hora de situar les persones en el centre dels debats i també de les polítiques, i en ella conflueixen diferents perspectives com el desarmament, el desenvolupament o els drets humans. En aquesta monografia, de manera rigorosa però també molt propera a la realitat dels col·lectius afectats, s'analitza el concepte de Seguretat Humana i Construcció de Pau a Colòmbia a través d'una sèrie d'articles que tracten de forma àmplia totes les propostes i alternatives que s'estan donant avui dia al país. Així, s'analitzen, entre altres temes, la política de Seguretat Democràtica, la seguretat ciutadana i les estratègies d'intervenció policial, la militarització de la societat amb la irrupció d'actors poc visualitzats com els mercenaris, la seguretat alimentària i mediambiental, amb especial incidència en els recursos hídrics, la participació de la societat civil en els processos de pau, i les propostes dels pobles indígenes del Cauca i afrodescendents del Pacífic en Construcció de Pau i Drets Humans.

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.

The book focuses on the significance of the concept of minority in international law together with the legal norms and principles emerged in the periods following the two world wars. The first chapter focuses on the discussions in the legal literature concerning the definability of the concept of minority. The second chapter presents the main bodies and procedures of minority rights protection under the rubric of the international organisations. The main objective of this chapter is to provide new interpretations of international minority in relationship with the legal instruments and the decisions of the relevant monitoring organs working under the UN and COE. The last chapter discusses whether there exists a direct link between the protection of minority rights and internal as well as external forms of self-determination.

The study argues that a relatively non-assertive language adopted in international minority rights instruments gives a large margin of appreciation for states and international monitoring organs in promoting and protecting minority rights. In addition, the work places the issues surrounding minority protection in the larger political context of creating a new platform for real equality and non-discrimination discourse.

This article is the Arabic translation (with minor modifications approved by the author) of an English original ("The KRG's Relationship with the Yazidi Minority and the Future of the Yazidis in Shingal") that was published by NRT, a Kurdish media outlet in Iraqi Kurdistan, on January 31, 2017. This Arabic translation was published by NRT on March 19, 2017. Both versions are available on Academia.edu and also appear on the NRT website.

This newspaper column from 2003 examines how Indians in Trinidad and Tobago are misled, guided by so many fears, the encouragement of feelings of victimhood, and smallness of vision. There is an important contribution for Indians to make to the building of this New World civilisation, which is still in its infancy and only half-made. What is needed is a vision, mission and leadership not griping about “discrimination”, but looking fearlessly to the future.

The article discusses the efforts to undertake economic reconstruction in Bosnia following the end of the war. It argues that, despite certain successes such as the rehabilitation of
infrastructure and the privatization of the banking sector, overall progress has been below expectations. The study, accordingly, attempts to analyse the reasons behind the reconstruction
failure by grouping Bosnia’s problems into four different challenges for analytical purposes: the post-Dayton institutional deficiency; overcoming political fragmentation; creating appropriate conditions for economic revival; and graduating from dependency on foreign economic aid. In this respect, it is concluded that the intersection between the economic and political dimensions of post-conflict reconstruction has generated a paradox: while huge amounts of economic assistance have intended to facilitate political reconciliation, the nature of the administrative (political) structure that was established in the post-war period has in turn hindered economic
recovery and the creation of a unified economic space. Moreover, political fragmentation and slow progress in economic reconstruction have been in a mutually constitutive relationship in which the existence of the one has contributed to the sustenance of the other.

Jelen tanulmány legfőbb célja rávilágítani a választójog mint alapjog, egyik aspektusa, a választójog egyenlősége szerepére a jogállamiság koncepciójában, felvázolva a tudomány jeles képviselőinek erre vonatkozó álláspontját. A magyar alkotmánybíróság választójog egyenlőségéhez kapcsolódó legfontosabb határozatai és a Velencei Bizottság kapcsolódó ajánlásai is felvillantásra kerülnek. A kérdés kapcsán kiemelésre kerül a magyarországi nemzetiségek országgyűlési képviseletének kérdése is, amelynek megoldására a rendszer-váltás óta igény jelentkezett, amely igény csupán 2010-et követően került kielégítésre. Megvizsgáljuk, hogy több mint két évtizedes mulasztásos alkotmánysértés állt-e fent a nemzetiségek országgyűlési képviseletére vonatkozóan. Fényt derítünk arra is, hogy sikerült-e kedvezményes országgyűlési képviseletet biztosítani a Magyarországon élő nemzetiségeknek, vagy éppen hátrányosabb helyzetbe kerültek a nemzetiségi választópolgárként nem regisztrált választóknál?

Following the death of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who committed suicide after forced “conversion therapy,” President Barack Obama called for a nationwide ban on psychotherapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. The administration argued that because conversion therapy causes substantial psychological harm to minors, it is neither medically nor ethically appropriate. We fully agree with the President and believe that this is a step in the right direction. Of course, in addition to being unsafe as well as ethically unsound, current conversion therapy approaches aren’t actually effective at doing what they claim to do – changing sexual orientation. But we also worry that this may be a short-term legislative solution to what is really a conceptual problem. The question we ought to be asking is “what will happen if and when scientists do end up developing safe and effective technologies that can alter sexual orientation?”

Zimbabwe consists of diverse minority language groups. In some cases, some groups could also be classified as minority ethnic groups. However, some of the ethnic groups have been subsumed into the Shona and Ndebele dominant tribes. As a result of these absorption processes, the recognition and evaluation of these varied contextual determinants is crucial in determining who qualifies to be classified as a minority. Not all minority ethnic groups are indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, the Doma, Tonga and San communities have demonstrated a determination to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations, their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.

В работе проведен обзор и анализ различных форм международных стандартов в области культурного многообразия.  Национальные государства обладают весьма широкой свободой  выбора в определении своей политики. В то же время в ряде конкретных областей существуют достаточно жесткие и эффективные инструменты и механизмы, которые позволяют    ограничивать действия национальных государств, вступающие в противоречие с основными принципами. Эти механизмы имеют ряд ограничений,  в первую очередь территориальных. Наиболее быстро развиваются стандарты, связанные с принципом равенства и недискриминации. В то же время развитие стандартов в области прав меньшинств затормозилось после того, как конфликты на этнической почве перестали рассматриваться как основная угроза миру и стабильности в Европе.

Bu yazı Şule GÖKÇENAY’ın (2009) Lozan Antlaşması’dan AB Sürecine Türkiye’de Azınlık Hakları başlıklı yazısı okunduktan sonra “konsept maping” çalışması yapmak amacı ile yazılmıştır.

Ülkemizde Azınlık Hak ve Hukuku çalışmalarının Lozan Antlaşması ile başlaması ve bu gün bile geçerli temel üzerine oturmuş olması her yönü ile bizim için onur vesilesidir.
Azınlık kavramının 19.yy büyük Avrupa Devletleri’nin zihinlerindeki yeri siyasi hayatta Balkan Savaşları ve mübadelelerin sonucunda oluşuyor. Hatta Balkan Savaşları’nın nedenleri arasında sayılır.
Yapılan her düzenlemenin bir bütünlük arzetmesi için Avrupa Konseyi’nin Türkiye Raporları’nın yalnız iki başlık altında; Medeni ve Siyasi Haklar ile Ekonomik, Sosyal ve Kültürel Haklar başlıkları altında toplanması gerektiğine inanıyorum.
Kürt insanlarımızın İstiklal Savaşı’na katılmış olmaları ülkemizde egemen unsur olduklarına delildir. Medeni ve Siyasi Haklar başlığı altında resmileşen son çalışmalarla yönetime katkıları artmaktadır. Henüz imzalanmamış Ulusal Azınlıkların Korunmasına İlişkin Çerçeve Sözleşme ve Avrupa Bölgesel veya Azınlık Dilleri Şartı ülkemizin Lozan Antlaşması ile oluşturduğu zeminde yerini bulan ve fakat uygulama yönü ile Kıbrıs için Birliğin önünde duran zor sınavlar gibi anlaşılmaktadır.
Avrupa Birliği açısından örnek alınabilecek benzer uygulamanın, Türkiye’nin uzun zamandır beraber çalıştığı Amerika’nın Pakistan- Afganistan bölgesindeki tasarruflarında görüleceği düşünülebilir.

Terence McKenna argued that sovereignty over one’s consciousness is the next great civil rights struggle after sexism, racism, and homophobia. “Coming out” about one’s psychedelic identity, interests, and/or experiences is an important part of redefining the public perception of psychedelics and of those who choose to experience their effects. Even non-using “allies” (comparable to LGBTQ allies) can join the conversation in supportive roles. In light of the shifting legal status of psychoactive plants and chemicals, what might it mean to identify as psychedelic in a post-prohibition world?

This chapter discusses the evolution of minority policies in Poland after 1945 in the
context of the processes of ethnic homogenization and nationalization of the Polish state. It analyses the impact of political changes and ethnic structure on the national and minority policy of Poland at various stages of historical development of the country. It also explores whether, and if so, to what extent, the process of national consolidation in Poland has been completed, i.e. to what extent the national identity has prevailed over the regional or linguistic identities. The findings reveal that, after 1989, the minority issue is no longer a relevant factor in Polish politics, remaining within the confines of the dispute over the nature of the Polish identity between the conservative-nationalist and the leftist-liberal segments of Polish politics. At the same time, however, minority rights are not, despite the wording of the Constitution and relevant legislation, relegated to the level of democratic discourse by the political elites, but in many cases are rather seen as a challenge to the stability of the Polish statehood.