Timofey Agarin – författare

This book assesses the underpinning role ‘references to identity’ played and continue to play as the powerful mobilising force in domestic politics across the East European region stretching from Estonia to Bulgaria.

The EU membership of postcommunist states was to ensure stability, prevent conflict and eventually guarantee equality of all citizens regardless of their political preferences or ethnic identities. However, the promotion of such norms and values has been secondary to consolidation of state institutions and the societies they serve around ethnocentric narratives of states’ core ethnic groups. The sequel of financial, then ‘refugee’ crises has further dented the appeal of the EU’s norms across the region. Even the rhetoric commitment to respect cultural diversity and human rights has been promptly replaced with references to identity and interests of politically relevant groups. Yet, nativist and populist rhetoric has been the staple of politics since before the EU accession.

The chapters in this edited volume zoom in on politics which forge and live-off their societies’ preoccupation with ethnocentric narratives, vesting national identity with persistent relevance and considerable weight across the postcommunist region.

The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, East European Politics.

This book assesses the underpinning role ‘references to identity’ played and continue to play as the powerful mobilising force in domestic politics across the East European region stretching from Estonia to Bulgaria.

The EU membership of postcommunist states was to ensure stability, prevent conflict and eventually guarantee equality of all citizens regardless of their political preferences or ethnic identities. However, the promotion of such norms and values has been secondary to consolidation of state institutions and the societies they serve around ethnocentric narratives of states’ core ethnic groups. The sequel of financial, then ‘refugee’ crises has further dented the appeal of the EU’s norms across the region. Even the rhetoric commitment to respect cultural diversity and human rights has been promptly replaced with references to identity and interests of politically relevant groups. Yet, nativist and populist rhetoric has been the staple of politics since before the EU accession.

The chapters in this edited volume zoom in on politics which forge and live-off their societies’ preoccupation with ethnocentric narratives, vesting national identity with persistent relevance and considerable weight across the postcommunist region.

The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal, East European Politics.

Consociational Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland, from leading scholars in the field, explores the evolution and challenges of consociational power-sharing in Northern Ireland for politics and societal relations.

Contributors to the book highlight that scholarship on consociational democracy anticipates political stability and continuous integration in post-conflict societies. However, over twenty-five years on from the Good Friday Agreement concerns remain about the adequacy of consociational power-sharing to ensure a fully functional form of government capable of providing stability and of addressing deeper political and social issues: While violence is absent, ethno-national identities remain in a state of a fragile equilibrium, and aspirations for significant progress on key issues like truth, justice, mutual respect, and socio-political inclusion have not been met. The reasons as to why this is so, and what can be done to rectify it, are central to the arguments that animate this timely book.

Consociational Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland will be of great interest to students and scholars in political science, law and constitutionalism, nationalism and ethnicity, and those interested in related topics in sociology and criminology. It will also appeal to practitioner communities related to powersharing, political representation and constitutional politics.

Consociational Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland, from leading scholars in the field, explores the evolution and challenges of consociational power-sharing in Northern Ireland for politics and societal relations.

Contributors to the book highlight that scholarship on consociational democracy anticipates political stability and continuous integration in post-conflict societies. However, over twenty-five years on from the Good Friday Agreement concerns remain about the adequacy of consociational power-sharing to ensure a fully functional form of government capable of providing stability and of addressing deeper political and social issues: While violence is absent, ethno-national identities remain in a state of a fragile equilibrium, and aspirations for significant progress on key issues like truth, justice, mutual respect, and socio-political inclusion have not been met. The reasons as to why this is so, and what can be done to rectify it, are central to the arguments that animate this timely book.

Consociational Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland will be of great interest to students and scholars in political science, law and constitutionalism, nationalism and ethnicity, and those interested in related topics in sociology and criminology. It will also appeal to practitioner communities related to powersharing, political representation and constitutional politics.

Twenty years after the demise of communist policy, this book evaluates the continuing communist legacies in the current minority protection systems and legislations across a number of states in post-communist Europe.

The fall of communism and the process of democratisation across post-communist Europe led to considerable change in minority protection with new systems and national political institutions either developed or copied. In general, the new institutions reflected the practices and experiences of (western) European states and were installed upon advice from European security organisations. Yet many ideas, legislative frameworks, policies and practices remained open to interpretation on the ground. With case studies on a diverse set of post-communist polities including Slovakia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Estonia, Croatia, the Baltic States and Russia, expert contributors consider how the institutional legacies of the communist past impact on policies designed to support minority communities in the new European democracies.

Providing unique empirical material and comparative analyses of ethnocultural diversity management during and after communism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, European politics, political geography, post-communism, ethnic politics, nationalism and national identity.

Twenty years after the demise of communist policy, this book evaluates the continuing communist legacies in the current minority protection systems and legislations across a number of states in post-communist Europe.

The fall of communism and the process of democratisation across post-communist Europe led to considerable change in minority protection with new systems and national political institutions either developed or copied. In general, the new institutions reflected the practices and experiences of (western) European states and were installed upon advice from European security organisations. Yet many ideas, legislative frameworks, policies and practices remained open to interpretation on the ground. With case studies on a diverse set of post-communist polities including Slovakia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Estonia, Croatia, the Baltic States and Russia, expert contributors consider how the institutional legacies of the communist past impact on policies designed to support minority communities in the new European democracies.

Providing unique empirical material and comparative analyses of ethnocultural diversity management during and after communism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, European politics, political geography, post-communism, ethnic politics, nationalism and national identity.

The interest in minority protection emerged during the period of democratic transition, particularly of ethnically segmented postcommunist societies after the end of the Cold War. Minority issues became prominent as postcommunist states lined up as potential candidates for EU membership and the respect for and protection of minority rights was an essential part of criteria these states had to fulfil before EU accession. Minority rights protection has constituted an important ‘gatekeeping’ criterion for EU membership. Its monitoring remains a powerful instrument to mediate tensions and to adjudicate discriminations in the present-day Europe. In many countries, minority rights standards have been transposed in domestic legislation, but whether these norms constitute a legitimate background which states accept, sustain and promote is the focus of this book.

This volume takes on the task of analysing the diffusion of minority rights norms across the European continent. It looks specifically at the oft-neglected process of compliance meaning not only the formal adoption of European laws but also their implementation within the domestic context. The contributions analyse the political rhetoric, legal transposition and behavioural compliance in a range of European states, East and West, to assess compliance to norms of minority protection.

This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.

The interest in minority protection emerged during the period of democratic transition, particularly of ethnically segmented postcommunist societies after the end of the Cold War. Minority issues became prominent as postcommunist states lined up as potential candidates for EU membership and the respect for and protection of minority rights was an essential part of criteria these states had to fulfil before EU accession. Minority rights protection has constituted an important ‘gatekeeping’ criterion for EU membership. Its monitoring remains a powerful instrument to mediate tensions and to adjudicate discriminations in the present-day Europe. In many countries, minority rights standards have been transposed in domestic legislation, but whether these norms constitute a legitimate background which states accept, sustain and promote is the focus of this book.

This volume takes on the task of analysing the diffusion of minority rights norms across the European continent. It looks specifically at the oft-neglected process of compliance meaning not only the formal adoption of European laws but also their implementation within the domestic context. The contributions analyse the political rhetoric, legal transposition and behavioural compliance in a range of European states, East and West, to assess compliance to norms of minority protection.

This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.