Regions, Minorities and European Integration: A Case Study on Muslims in Western Thrace, Greece
by Dia Anagnostou, Anna Triandafyllidou,
This report explores the regional changes and the redefi ned government policy towards the minority in Western Thrace, Greece, which were largely undertaken in the context of EU integration, as well as their consequences for ethnic politics, cultural mobilization and inter-communal relations. The original research hypotheses were that regional and minority rights changes in the context of European integration a) promote political and economic integration of minorities in development frames, as well as inter-communal cooperation, and b) reinforce a relative decline of nationalist politics, with the interests and identity of minorities and majorities increasingly emphasizing social-economic integration, civic participation and equal citizenship, as opposed to ethnic solidarity. Our fi ndings suggest that minority and majority partly shift their interests in the direction of pursuing regional economic integration and inter-communal cooperation, while national and ethnic politics in Thrace have grown more moderate since the 1990s. At the same time, regional economic, institutional changes and the political participation of Christians and Muslims are constrained by ongoing separation along ethnic-national lines. While the context of EU integration appears to bolster minority quest for integration and to diminish its fears of assimilation and reversion to a discriminatory policy, it does not in any way render less salient identifi cation with the ethnic community. The latter manifests itself in widespread demands for cultural self-determination in religious affairs and for recognition as a ‘Turkish minority’.
published in Vol 7 - No 1 - 2007 // Regions, Minorities and European Integration
The papers collected in this issue, which represent only a fraction of those produced in the project show unambiguously that, while Europe creates a better quality framework for relations between minorities and majorities, Europe does not fundamentally alter the behavior of actors. The game played is still undoubtedly modern, as its main stakes are identity... »
The report presented a case of the infl uence of European integration on the political and socioeconomic status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Based on the historical background and the analysis of empirical fi ndings, we tried to test a set of hypotheses: a) the promotion of human rights and the protection of minorities... »
This report explores the regional changes and the redefi ned government policy towards the minority in Western Thrace, Greece, which were largely undertaken in the context of EU integration, as well as their consequences for ethnic politics, cultural mobilization and inter-communal relations. The original research hypotheses were that regional and minority rights changes in the... »
The comparative report analyses the individual cases which constituted the EUROREG project with the aims of: enhancing the existing knowledge on the nature of regional development, mobilization, ethnic minority politicization, and how these are reconfi gured by European integration processes; examining how EU regional economic policies in EU member states affect patterns of political participation... »
The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the European regional policy and the European integration of Bulgaria on the political mobilisation, social-economic status and the perception of two compact Muslim groups – Turks and Muslim Bulgarians (Pomaks), who are the local majority in the Kardzhali and Smolyan districts of the South... »
The aim of this introductory chapter is to provide an overview of the theoretical framework informing the case studies presented in this issue. In the context of nation and state building, it describes and analyzes the presence of minorities in Europe, their politicisation at the regional-local level in post war Europe, as well as the... »
The article aims to explicate the potential effects of European integration and cross-border cooperation initiatives on the Italian national community in Slovenia in terms of its rights and protection, political participation, socio-economic activity and cultural vitality. These factors will be studied on a comparative basis, i.e. looking at changes in the minority situation after the... »
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International Advisory Board
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (chair) Hertie School of Governance
Larry Diamond Stanford University
Tom Gallagher University of Bradford
Alena Ledeneva University College London
Michael McFaul Stanford University
Dennis Deletant Georgetown University
Helen Wallace London School of Economics and Political Science