National self-governments in Hungary and Serbia in the context of public power decentralising solutions

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to verify a thesis according to which countries which are considered to be the most representative examples of implementing the national cultural autonomy concept (Hungary and Serbia) in fact use the construct of national minority self-government, which, according to administrative law commentaries, is classified as non-territorial, or special self-government. In order to fulfill this task two decentralisation solutions which are aimed at pursuing national and ethnic minorities’ ambitions to maintain and enhance their cultural identity: national minority self-governments and national cultural autonomy has been presented. These legal constructs are not equivalent, although in international literature on the subject they are often treated as synonyms. In this context Serbian and Hungarian regulations has been presented and assessed.

Keywords

• decentralization
• national minority self-governments
• national cultural autonomy
• special self-government