ISA-Convention 2006, San Diego
Panel: New political movements and minorities in Europe
Friday, March 24, 2006
By Dr. Anja Mihr
Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany)
Mail:
Minority Groups in European Politics:
Institutions, NGOs, Political Parties and new identities
The increasing political participation of minority groups is linked to the establishment of the
Human Rights catalogue by the European Institutions in the 1990s. It has led to stronger
identities and political demands among minority groups such as the Basques, the Roma, the
migrant groups and those minority groups belonging to patronage states like the Danes in
Germany or the Hungarians in Slovakia. Hence, it can be argued that the new minority
policies in Europe have led to defining more clearly the (human) rights of minority groups
which at the same time helped new emerging groups to defining and “finding” themselves. At
the same time this caused increasing participatory political activities on both national and
international levels. This led to new challenges and threats to the state centred regime in
Europe which in some cases were the basis of the claims of territorial self-determination of
some groups.
In this paper I will argue that European Institutions enhance the political minority movements
across Europe. Many of their political demands can only be held accountable on the
supranational European level.
Index
1. Minorities, Parties and NGOs
2. European Institutions and Human Rights
3. Self-assertion: New identities of minorities
4. Challenges and problem solving in the European level
1
This paper is based in parts on an article by Anja Mihr „Minority Rights and Political Movements in Europe“
published in the Norwegian Journal for Migration Research (NTM), 2/2005, p.10-25. The purpose of this
presentation at ISA 2006 is to further elaborate this issue of political participation of minorities in Europe. This
paper is work in progress, please do not quote. This paper is also part of a larger interdisciplinary research
project Teaching Human Rights in Europe
1