The way we exist in society defines our place in its social structures and reaffirms our belonging, identity, and dignity. Europe is a continent characterized by many internal conflicts and ongoing struggles inside societies. The battlefield is society itself, where state law clashes with ethnic law over the very identity of society. Exploring debates from Scandinavia to Spain about the religious and political autonomy and freedom, this book explains that the violation of the rights of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, such as the Sami and Basque peoples, remains a problem in Europe. In addition to these political conflicts, Magdalena Butrymowicz analyzes the legal and religious culture within minority ethnic structures themselves. Ultimately, this book raises timely questions about the balance between state control and legal autonomy for ethnic minorities across Europe advocating for a new definition of ethnic law as the right of ethnic minorities, creating their legal and ethnic identity. The book will interest anyone exploring the dynamic between European states and the ethnic minorities that live in them.

Contents.

In the different projects of the Thematic Network on Humanitaian Development Studies, there is an underlyin note which is both intended and spontaneously recorded after its activities. We refer to the European dimension and the idea of sharing approaches and perspectives into the analysis on a number of working themes. The initial intentios is, therfore, to create common language and shared points of reference where variety could be read and further understood.

This book is concerned with European identities among ethnic minorities who live along the eastern border of the European Union. Based on findings from quantitative and qualitative empirical research conducted with minority groups in eight nation-states on both sides of the new eastern border of the EU, it investigates their attitudes and perceptions of the EU based on their constructions of European identity. Adopting a comparative approach, the author explores different processes of identity construction across several age and ethnic minority groups, to develop a theory of European identities in which ethnic identities can be seen as a missing link in explaining relationships between different national, regional and supranational identities. With new insights regarding the political, cultural and instrumental contents of European identity and its emergence, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with interests in ethnic identity, European integration and identity research.

This volume provides a cross-national analysis of the changing identities of various national and ethnic groups, their new political influence in the emergent democracies and their efforts to revive suppressed cultures. It begins with a theoretical analysis of the concepts of national identity and ethnicity. It features case studies of contemporary Belarussian, Polish and Ukrainian national identities before turning to a study of Eastern Europe's hidden ethnic minorities, like the Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia, the Lemkos in Poland and the Gypsies in Bulgaria.

Numerous historical and political processes and dynamics have led to the emergence of ethnic minority groups in Central and Eastern Europe, each with its own long history and identity. The breakdown of the Soviet regime, the establishment of new nation-states, and the Eastern enlargement of the European Union have raised new questions for these ethnic groups, questions regarding their feelings of belonging and the main elements of their identity. In contrast to the common assumption that ethnic identities have become prevalent having been suppressed for a long time, this book provides empirical evidence that ethnic minorities typically relate to both their ethnic identity and to the national identity of their country of residence. The contributions reveal that the development and maintenance of ethnic, national and European identities are linked to the socio-economic situation and possible benefits for individuals, their countries, or their specific ethnic minority group. The book also highlights that national and European politics may contribute to ethnic and European identification, particularly in the fields of minority rights (e.g. language rights, voting rights) and integration policies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Identities journal.

This book is concerned with European identities among ethnic minorities who live along the eastern border of the European Union. Based on findings from quantitative and qualitative empirical research conducted with minority groups in eight nation-states on both sides of the new eastern border of the EU, it investigates their attitudes and perceptions of the EU based on their constructions of European identity. Adopting a comparative approach, the author explores different processes of identity construction across several age and ethnic minority groups, to develop a theory of European identities in which ethnic identities can be seen as a missing link in explaining relationships between different national, regional and supranational identities. With new insights regarding the political, cultural and instrumental contents of European identity and its emergence, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with interests in ethnic identity, European integration and identity research.

This book asks why several ethnic and linguistic groups in Central Europe and the Balkans have not yet been legally recognized as national minorities. Some of these hidden minorities have not developed an intellectual elite that can visibly present their identity and claims to the majority population. Other groups are deliberately concealing their existence and language for reasons of self-protection. The chapters in this volume address the everyday mechanisms of hiding and being hidden in the transition zone of these two European regions.

The study of ethnic minorities and their role in the domestic politics of their host states has long attracted scholars from a wide range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. By contrast, national (or external) minorities, have been under-represented in the literature on ethnic minorities, although the interest has increased since the collapse of communism and more recently since the eruption of violent conflict in Kosovo. Ethnic Germans in particular, although still numbering millions and spread over twenty countries in western, central, and eastern Europe, have attracted only little attention. This volume addresses the issue of Germany's external minorities, exploring the complex interrelationship between their ethnic identity and sense of cultural belonging on the one hand, and the political, economic, legal, and social situation in their respective societies, on the other. Leading specialists, representing a wide spectrum of viewpoints on the social and political conditions under which German minorities live today, provide case studies of all the major individual minority groups. In this way, a comprehensive picture of Germans and German culture in Europe emerges that provides both historical and contemporary perspectives on a diaspora community with an uncertain future between assimilation, segregation, and emigration.

Multiculturalism in present-day Europe How to understand Europe’s post-migrant Islam on the one hand and indigenous, anti-Islamic movements on the other? What impact will religion have on the European secular world and its regulation? How do social and economic transitions on a transnational scale challenge ethnic and religious identifications? These questions are at the very heart of the debate on multiculturalism in present-day Europe and are addressed by the authors in this book. Through the lens of post-migrant societies, manifestations of identity appear in pluralized, fragmented, and deterritorialized forms. This new European multiculturalism calls into question the nature of boundaries between various ethnic-religious groups, as well as the demarcation lines within ethnic-religious communities. Although the contributions in this volume focus on Islam, ample attention is also paid to Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism. The authors present empirical data from cases in Turkey, Germany, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Norway, Sweden, and Belgium, and sharpen the perspectives on the religious-ethnic manifestations of identity in the transnational context of 21st-century Europe.