Liberalism and cultural claims in Central and Eastern Europe

Toward a pluralist balance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7931097
AutoresZSUZSA CSERGŐ (0000-0002-1227-8355, Queen's University), Kevin Deegan-Krause, Kevin Deegan‐krause (0000-0001-7526-6530, Wayne State College)
Año2011
Volumen17
Número1
Páginas85-107
Fecha de publicación2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNations and Nationalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1469-8129.2010.00473.x
OpenAlexW1519710612
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas23

This article relies on cases from new EU member states in postcommunist Europe to integrate two overlapping debates about majority–minority relations. Since the Second World War, political theorists and international institutions have tended to discourage group-rights approaches in favour of individual rights; meanwhile, policy-makers who achieved interethnic peace in postcommunist Europe have often opted for group-rights approaches. On the basis of political theory, international norms and the conduct of political elites in this region, we argue that both the individual-rights and group-rights approaches can be differentiated internally along the dimension of pluralism – that is, their willingness to accommodate multiple processes of cultural reproduction. Moreover, both group-rights and individual-rights approaches can offer justifications for restricting minority cultural opportunities; furthermore, restrictive group-rights approaches sometimes cloak their efforts behind ‘Western-sounding’ individual-rights rhetoric. Likewise, both group-rights and individual-rights approaches can permit group accommodation that can lead to political integration. We find that de facto pluralist approaches to minority accommodation – often spearheaded by moderate parties of the majority in coalition with minority-group parties – encourage ethnic peace, regardless of their foundation in individual or group rights

Epistemology · Ethnic group · Human rights · Law and economics · Liberalism · Minority group · Minority rights · Pluralism (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Turkey's Politics and Society