Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (Feb 2013)

De-Territorializing Minority Rights in Europe: A Look Eastward

  • Givovanni M. Quer

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 76 – 98

Abstract

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The increasing mobilization of non-territorial groups raises questions about European states' ability to cope with collective claims that cannot be categorized under the traditional instruments of minority protection developed under the nation-state system. By investigating other legal traditions in which territory is not an element of protection, such as the Ottoman millet system, Europe can find other available solutions to its current dilemmas. Specifically, this article refers to Lebanon, Israel and Iraq, together with some European experiences of non-territorial self-government, and suggests a model for a modern millet system in terms of personal autonomy, cultural autonomy, and political representation. Personal autonomy implies the introduction of the legal pluralistic paradigm and the selective opening of geo-legal frontiers to foreign legal traditions and institutions, as in Israel, the UK, and Germany. Cultural autonomy involves the devolution of competences to local minority self-government bodies and the involvement of minority members into decision-making organs vital to their interests, such as in Iraq, Estonia and Hungary. Political representation requires the combination of both rigid and flexible tools for guaranteeing effective representation and preventing conflict exacerbation.

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