National Cultural Autonomy

In the early twentieth century, three provinces of the Austrian half of the Habsburg Empire enacted national compromises in their legislation that had elements of non-territorial autonomy provisions. Czech and German politicians in Moravia reached an agreement in 1905. In the heavily mixed Bukovina, Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Jewish and Polish representatives agreed on a new provincial constitution in 1909. Last but not least, Polish and Ukrainian nationalists compromised in spring 1914, just a few months before the outbreak of the First World War vitiated the new provisions. Even though the provisions of these agreements varied substantially, new electoral laws introducing national registers were at their heart. These were designed to ensure a fairer representation of national groups in the provincial assemblies and to keep national agitation out of electoral campaigns. The earliest compromise in Moravia went furthest in consociational power sharing. However, the national bodies within the provincial assembly had no right to tax their respective national communities, and the provisions of the provincial constitutions kept the non-nationally defined nobility as an important counterbalance. The compromises in Bukovina and Galicia, even if they categorised all inhabitants nationally, contented themselves with even less autonomous agency for the national bodies in the provincial assemblies and rather emphasised the symbolic elements of national autonomy. The non-territorial approach in all three crownlands, however, was an instrument to reorganise multi-ethnic provinces that increasingly became the model for national compromises in other Austrian provinces.

The article focuses on two sets of autonomist demands that the far-right Sudeten German Party (SdP) in Czechoslovakia put forward during 1937–38. Its central thesis being that both sets were marked by a profoundly close interplay between territorial and non-territorial approaches at accommodating national diversity, it sets to explore this relationship, highlighting the underlying dynamic. Although the 1937 Volksschutzgesetze posed as an ostensibly “pure” case of non-territorial autonomy, whereas the 1938 Skizze über Neuordnung der innerstaatlichen Verhältnisse entailed major territorial provisions, in both cases the practical end-goal implied territorial autonomy. A closer look into their inner logic and intellectual origins however, also reveals a shared, essentially non-territorial underpinning. While the SdP agenda was firmly centered on national territory, its specific völkisch and organicist understanding of nationality manifested a clear preponderance of non-territoriality. Both sets of autonomist demands may thus be treated as a potentially maximalist combination of territorial and non-territorial arrangements resting on a fundamentally non-territorial notion of Volkspersönlichkeit. Encompassing all the members of the national group, the latter was simultaneously conceived as the basic carrier of political will. Volksschutzgesetze and Skizze thus represented clear examples of illiberal (re-)conceptualization of national autonomy, informed by contemporary völkisch sociological, legal, and political thought.

Since the late 1980s, the interpretations of policy toward Hungary's minorities-most notably the country's 1993 minority law and the minority self-governments established as part of a system of nonterritorial autonomy (NTA)-have been the subject of debates in politics and academia in at least two critical respects. Aside from the declarative character of the law, foremost has been the question of Hungary's kin-state activism toward Hungarians abroad and the implications this has carried for domestic minority issues. A second-and related-question has concerned the extent to which cultural autonomy and minority rights are in accordance with the needs of the Roma, by far the country's largest ethnic minority group. A growing number of scholars have accepted the argument that the minority law was enacted because of concerns regarding Hungarian minorities living in the neighboring countries. In our view, it is more appropriate to ask instead how Hungary's kin-state policies have influenced the opportunities for domestic groups, and, in particular, how Hungary fits into the broader context of post-Communist state-and nation-building projects. This is the approach we take in this article, which aims to unpack and reconcile the complex and seemingly contradictory findings on the Hungarian case. Our conclusions are drawn from a content analysis of parliamentary debates on the minority law-something that has never previously been undertaken. This is supplemented by semi-structured interviews with former and current politicians and minority activists.

This essay analyses the 1993 Estonian Law on Cultural Autonomy for National Minorities (LCANM), based on an earlier one of 1925 during the first period of Estonian national independence, as the potential basis for the National Cultural Autonomy (NCA) of the Estonian Russian community. The latter was in fact never established in Estonia -and the question would be, why not? Law & Economics analysis is used in order to find out more about this complex matter. First, we discuss the issue of whether the purpose of the LCANM has actually been to further (Russian or any) NCA in Estonia to begin with. Second, if it was, then the question remains whether it is a bad thing that this never worked, either from the perspective of the Estonian state or from that of the Estonian Russians.

What is the relationship between ethnic diversity and sovereign territoriality? Central Europe was a bustling laboratory for this question both before and after the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire. The notion of minority rights overseen by an international organization like the League of Nations was one of the most striking innovations of the interwar international order. From the perspective of Central European activists, scholars, and politicians, however, this system emerged as just one possible response to an older problem concerning the form of rights and jurisdiction best suited to a region in which different ethnicities, languages, and religions were densely intermingled. In fact, various thinkers had developed a number of bold proposals that sought to redefine the relationship between rights and territory by forming national jurisdictions and communities on a corporate-and thus non-territorial-basis. This chapter traces the emergence of 'non-territorial autonomy' , as this idea is referred to by scholars today, in the multinational Habsburg state and its translation into the area of interwar minority protection.

The question of how to accommodate ethno-cultural diversity within liberal democratic states is one that has acquired a growing salience across Europe during the course of the past five decades. Political theory long adhered to the view that liberal democracy was something to be realised within the framework of a unitary nation-state based on a single undifferentiated political community of individuals. Although the civic/liberal vision of the nation was supposedly 'ethno-culturally neutral' , the classic nation-state model also carried an implicit presumption of cultural homogeneity, whereby a single official language and overarching societal culture formed the basis for meaningful participation by all in public life. 1 This model reflected the experience of western European states -most notably France -where 'relatively strong, centralized monarchies emerged in pre-modern times, constituting sturdy political-cultural molds within which state-wide national identities eventually gelled, under the impact of homogenizing forces such as economic development and commercial integration, the bureaucratization of the state, the growth of public education, and the development of print media, electoral politics and the mass media' . 2 This model of the culturally homogenous liberal democratic nation-state has, however, never been anything more than an ideal type, and its core assumptions have since the start of the twentieth century been challenged both theoretically and in practice by a more liberal pluralist vision which asserts the importance of public recognition and accommodation of ethno-cultural diversity within democratic societies. Advocates of liberal pluralism draw attention to the structural disadvantages faced by bearers of minority languages and cultures within the context of unitary nation states. Individual rights of non-discrimination, it is argued, cannot suffice to address these disadvantages. The notion of a single political community of equal citizens thus needs to be supplemented by the granting of additional specific national minority rights that can only be exercised collectively -for example, to cultural and educational facilities and to language use in the public sphere.

В статье анализируется взаимодействие национальных движений с белыми правительствами во время гражданской войны на примере казахской автономии Алаш и национально-культурной автономии тюрко-татар. Татары накопили достаточно большой политический и военный опыт в имперский период. После Октябрьской революции Поволжье было занято Советской властью, но татары осуществили довольно широкую культурную автономию на Урале и в Сибири. Они организованно требовали своего признания от белогвардейцев, но представления русских и башкир о татарах как о «панисламистах», стремящихся «отатаривать» других мусульман, формировали резко отрицательное отношение белогвардейцев. Казахи как «инородцы» страдали от презрительного отношения со стороны русских, а также от все более усиливавшейся вражды к ним белогвардейцев, возражавших против национально-территориальной автономии. Но они проявили искусность и гибкость в переговорах и получили такие небольшие достижения, как признание казахского суда правительством А.В. Колчака.

Ключевые слова: казахи, татары, башкиры, национально-территориальная автономия, национально-культурная автономия, Временное Сибирское правительство, Комуч, правительство А.В. Колчака.

Az Európai Nemzetiségi Kongresszus volt az egyetlen olyan hosszú időt megért, majdnem másfél évtizeden keresztül aktív nemzetközi szervezet a két világháború közötti Európában, amely tevékenységének fókuszába a nemzeti kisebbségek helyzetének vizsgálatát és a nemzetközi kisebbségvédelem megreformálásáért kifejtendő lobbitevékenységet állította. A Kongresszus a német kisebbségek kezdeményezésére jött létre, irányvonalának meghatározásában pedig a német, a magyar és zsidó küldöttekből álló csoportok játszottak meghatározó szerepet.

Bethlen István miniszterelnök titokban kezdettől fogva anyagi támogatást nyújtott a Kongresszusnak, mivel azt várta tőle, hogy a revízióorientált magyar külpolitika elsősorban propagandaszempontból értékes kiegészítőjévé válik, és felerősíti a kisebbségi panaszok hatását a nemzetközi politikai színpadon, valamint a nyugat-európai államok közvéleménye előtt. A magyar külügyminisztériummal és miniszterelnökséggel folyamatosan egyeztető magyar kisebbségek mindvégig magas rangú pártpolitikusokkal képviseltették magukat a szervezetben: Csehszlovákiából Szüllő Géza, Flachbart Ernő, Jaross Andor és Esterházy János, Romániából Jakabffy Elemér, Balogh Arthur, Sulyok István és Jósika János, Jugoszláviából pedig Deák Leó, Strelitzky Dénes és Törley Bálint kapcsolódott be leginkább a Kongresszus munkájába.

A szerző a magyar kisebbségek kongresszusi részvételét a szervezet tevékenységének vizsgálatába ágyazva mutatja be, miközben a magyar törekvések és lépések elemzését a „magyar érdekek” érvényesítését figyelemmel kísérő magyar hivatalos szervek, valamint a német külügyminisztérium és társadalmi szervezetek háttérben folyó instrumentalizációs törekvéseinek erőterébe helyezi. A kötet új információkkal gazdagítja a húszas és harmincas évek magyar külpolitikai vonalvezetéséről, valamint a magyar kisebbségek nemzetközi porondon kifejtett tevékenységéről kialakult képünket.

The concept of national cultural autonomy has been firstly developed by the Austromarxist philosophers Karl Renner und Otto Bauer, designed to manage ethno-national conflicts and prevent secession by providing national and ethnic minorities constitutionally guaranteed collective rights and non-territorial self-administration in all cultural affairs. The central institutions of cultural autonomy are Councils of National Minorities, elected directly by the members of the respective minority, who freely may declare their membership to a minority.
Cultural autonomy in this sense has been established since the end of World War I in several Eastern European states such as Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Serbia and Hungary. The paper sketches the fundamental issues of these arrangements in four of those states. In some areas the “Councils of national minorities” enjoy an insufficient democratic legitimacy due to partially indirect elections (Serbia), are blamed to foster “ethno-business” (Hungary), do not provide autonomy for the most significant national minorities (Estonia) or simply have not been seriously applied (Latvia). Under such circumstances cultural autonomy lacks to match its potential capacities for minority cultures’ protection and has to be improved in the sense of the original concept developed by Karl Renner and Otto Bauer some 120 years ago.

The debate on defining the nation is split between primordialists and modernists. At face value both seem to be compatible and stand to gain from a definition that combines both approach. There is a deeper conflict though: primordialists reify the national character, modernists abhor such reification. Otto Bauer combines primordialism with nationalism and gives a coherent definition of the nation that has interesting things to say on the issue of reification. This paper tries to explain Bauer's definition of the nation that steers a mid-course between modernists and primordialists. Bauer is a modernist for whom nations only come to full development in modernity. Furthermore he is a modernist because he does not give any explanatory weight to the national character but rather sees the national character as something that is in need of an explanation. Bauer is however also a primordialist for whom nations have pre-modern origins, which boundaries are well-established and who reifies nations. Bauer squares modernism with primordialism through a three-fold strategy. First he makes the nation futile. Second, he makes the unification and reification of the nation inevitable, turning it into a 'natural' process. Third he denies the nation any political boundaries and power.

The minority cultural autonomy model, as firstly theorized by the eminent Austro Marxists Karl Renner and Otto Bauer, is said to guarantee, if properly implemented, minority protection and state stability. For a variety of reasons this model is clearly overrepresented in the region of the former "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia", mostly in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Its effectiveness, however, in minority protection in the area is under question. In some cases the right to self-proclamation in order to be registered in minority electoral catalogues is compromised (Slovenia e. g.) or partly violated (Serbia e. g.), in others the minority councils merely have a decorative 'advisory' role (Croatia, e. g.) and enjoy but an insufficient legitimacy due to their partial indirect election (Serbia e. g.), while in all cases they have no legislative or taxing powers and enjoy inadequate state funding. In such circumstances, if the model is to make any significant contribution to minority protection it has to be improved in the direction the Austro-Marxists proposed and the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has recently opined. Otherwise, it would be better to abandon the term as an analytical tool since in its present forms it offers autonomy only by euphemism, serving more as a state strategy for minority patronage than as an effective device for minority protection.

This article provides an overview of the political representation and integration of Galician Jews on the municipal, provincial, and central state level under Austrian rule. It demonstrates that political representation on the latter two levels started only after the revolution of 1848 and was rather modest considering the numeric and economic weight Jews enjoyed in Galicia. Even though representation in municipal councils started earlier, the position of Jews depended very much on local circumstances. After the turn of the century, the widening of the electorate to the lower classes led to a broader Jewish representation and participation not only in terms of numbers but also within the political spectrum. This is particularly true for the paper's second part. In this section, the text explores the reform of the electoral system for Galicia's provincial parliament and the attitude of Jewish politicians towards the compromise eventually found in 1914. The article argues that among Jews the positive or negative assessment of the new voting system depended largely on their position in the larger antagonism between Jewish nationalists and assimilationists. The former complained that the entire reform was on the backs of the Jews ignoring their numeric strength and their national rights. Assimilationists, on the other hand, were satisfied that, against all counter-claims of Zionists and Anti-Semites, the compromise legally established that Jews were Poles.

This article explores how the concept of minority national-cultural autonomy (NCA) has been defined and practiced in contemporary Estonia, combining data from interviews and previously unanalyzed archival sources to trace debates and policymaking processes back to 1988 and ascertain: why (and for whom) NCA was adopted; the functions ascribed to NCA institutions; and the effectiveness and legitimacy of the model in the eyes of different “noncore” ethnic communities. In so doing, the article uses NCA as a fresh lens for analyzing the more general politics of post-Soviet state and nation-building in the country, situating this case within the “Quadratic Nexus” framework. Estonia’s NCA law is generally viewed as irrelevant to ongoing issues of diversity governance in the country. However, Finnish and Swedish minority autonomies have been established and, in recent years, there have been three applications to establish a Russian NCA. None have been approved, and yet some authors see them...

This article investigates how Polish and Ukrainian political parties, state officials as well as religious leaders negotiated national-personal autonomy for the virtually unstudied Galician Compromise in 1914. My conclusion maintains that a compromise-friendly atmosphere in the Empire’s public opinion, careful interference from Vienna and increasing tensions with neighbouring Russia forced the Polish establishment to cede some power to Ukrainian parties.

Η παρούσα μελέτη πραγματεύεται το νομικό περιεχόμενο της έννοιας του «Δικοινοτικού Συνταγματισμού» στην Κύπρο, ως κυρίαρχο χαρακτηριστικό στοιχείο της Συνθήκης Εγκαθίδρυσης της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας το 1960, υπό το πλαίσιο του θεωρητικού-κανονιστικού μοντέλου της «Εθνικής-Πολιτιστικής Αυτονομίας» (National-Cultural Autonomy).
Μέσα από το πρίσμα αυτής της αναλυτικής προσέγγισης, η μελέτη ανατέμνει τις πρόνοιες του Συντάγματος που αντανακλούν το «δικοινοτισμό», επιχειρώντας να καταδείξει ότι το νομικό περιεχόμενο τους έλκει θεωρητική, εννοιολογική και κανονιστική νομιμοποίηση από το Αυστρό-Μαρξιστικό (Austro-Marxist) μοντέλο της «Εθνικής-Πολιτιστικής Αυτονομίας».

National Cultural Autonomy appears to be somewhat an under-recognised entity as far as academic investigation is concerned, which is unfortunate as it automatically becomes disadvantaged when compared and contrasted with other forms of National Self-Determination. It is therefore the remit of this paper to accumulate key thoughts surrounding the model in order to critically analyse it and understand it’s viability as an alternative model to existing methodologies of self-determination. To comprehend this fully, motivating factors – primarily in the realm of morality – for why individuals and groups pursue nationalistic movements will be investigated as well. In concluding, compiled information will be brought together in order to briefly assess the possibility of NCA being a valid alternative and what needs to take place in order to promote any such validity.

A kisebbségi autonómia gondolata és a nemzetközi politika a két világháború közötti Köztes-Európában 1919-1938 A z elsõ világháborút lezáró békeszerzõdések aláírása óta a nemzeti kisebbségek védelmének problematikája folyamatosan napirenden van -különbözõ korszakokban eltérõ intenzitással és hangsúlyokkal -a régió államainak politikai és társadalmi életében, az érintett kisebbségek törekvéseiben, és idõrõl-idõre felmerül -gyakran feszültségforrásként -a szomszédállamok kapcsolataiban, valamint a nemzetközi szervezetek problémakatalógusaiban is. 1 A kisebbségi autonómia lehetõsége már nem volt teljesen ismeretlen az elsõ világháború végén a kérdésben tájékozott szakértõk és politikusok számára. Az Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia területén ugyanis voltak már olyan közigazgatási egységek, melyek határait etnikai alapon vonták meg, és amelyek széleskörû önkormányzati jogosítványok birtokában ügyeik jelentõs részét maguk intézték. 2 A személyi elvû kulturális autonómia teóriájának alapjait is kidolgozta már két ausztriai szociáldemokrata, Karl Renner és Otto Bauer. Kétségtelen azonban, hogy a nemzeti kisebbségek autonómiájának gondolata a két világháború között vert gyökeret a probléma iránt egyre nagyobb fogékonyságot mutató köztudatban, és (részben) az ekkor szerzett tapasztalatokra nyúlt vissza késõbb 1 A tanulmány az MTA II. Osztályának közgyûlési tudományos ülésén 2009. május 14-én elhangzott elõadás szerkesztett, jegyzetekkel ellátott változata. 2 Theodor Veiter: Nationale Autonomie. Wilhelm Braumüller Verlag, Wien, 1938. 117-123.

A tanulmány a vajdasági magyar autonómia eszmetörténetének talán legfontosabb időszakáról, az 1990-es évekről szól. Ismerteti az autonómiatervezeteket, elemzi és összeveti a különféle érdekérvényyesítési stratégiákat, és elhelyezi az autonómiatörekvést a szélesebb társadalom- és politikatörténeti kontextusban.

Türkiye’de sinemanın ilk yıllarını ‘Kültür Emperyalizmi’ ve ‘Modernleşme’ kuramları çerçevesinde irdeleyen ayrıntılı bir çalışma bulunmamaktadır. Bu makale  ‘kültürel özerklik/özgürleşim/direniş’, ‘kültür emperyalizmi’ ve ‘modernleşme’ gibi
kavramlardan yararlanarak Türkiye’de sinemanın girişini ve gelişimini irdelemekteÖZTÜRK
Kültür Emperyalizmi ve Modernleşime
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dir. Bulgulara göre Türkiye’de sinemanın girişi ve gelişimini Batı’daki sinema deneyiminin
basitçe kopyalanması olarak nitelemek mümkün değildir. Yerel ihtiyaçlar dolayısıyla sinema teknolojisine yönelindiği, teknoloji alımında ve film ithalatında seçmeci davranıldığı gözlenmektedir. Sinemanın ilk yıllarında Türkiye’nin yaşadığı deneyim daha çok ‘Kültür Emperyalizmi’ teorisyenlerinin kültürel özerklik yönelimli argümanlarını hatırlatmaktadır..

Nationalism has always been a twofold phenomenon. On the one hand there is bottom-up nationalism which intrinsically values the national community and on the other hand there is top-down nationalism instigated by the political centre and aiming at the instrumentalization of the (majority) nation in function of the state. The most consistent normative approach to the nationalities problem is an approach that is also twofold and that treats top-down and bottom-up nationalism separately. This leads to a twofold multinational federal model like non-territorial autonomy. Liberal nationalism, because of its alliance with the nation-state paradigm doesn’t treat top-down and bottom-up nationalism separately and therefore runs into troubles. Normatively speaking the most consistent way of treating nationalism is such a separated approach. The reason why the opposite, a merged approach, resulting in the nation-state model, is still plausible is due to historical contingencies. This is the correct way of interpreting Bauer and this is also the strongest argument for non-territorial autonomy so far.

The Congress of European Nationalities (hereinafter, the Congress) was the only organization in the interwar period that aimed to create an international forum encompassing all organized national minorities in Europe. In the fourteen years of its existence, the Congress continued to see itself as a unified movement despite several national minorities turning their back on it due to internal conflicts. In this study, I first describe the organizational structure of the Congress and analyze its official and public activities. I then discuss the causes of tensions and the complexities of cooperation among the national minorities. I also examine the efforts of Germany and Hungary – the kin-states of the two most active national minority groups in the Congress – to use the institution to serve the interests of the Hungarian-speaking and German-speaking minorities.

A Magyar Köztársaság Országgyûlése 1993-ban fogadta el a LXXVII. törvényt a nemzeti és etnikai kisebbségek jogairól. Az ennek alapján 1994/95-ben kiépült kisebbségi önkormányzati rendszer hazai és nemzetközi fogadtatása alapvetõen pozitív volt. 1 Az elmúlt öt évben összegyûlt tapasztalatok alapján ma már megvonható a rendszer mûködésének mérlege. Mivel a téma rendkívül összetett, jelen tanulmányunkban -a kisebbségi önkormányzatokra vonatkozó jogszabályok vázlatos ismertetése mellettelsõsorban az önkormányzatok megválasztásával kapcsolatban felmerült kérdésekre, a kisebbségi önkormányzatok mûködésének néhány problémájára, valamint a parlamenti képviselet kérdésére koncentrálunk. A téma különös aktualitását az adja, hogy az Országgyûlés most készül a kisebbségi törvény és a kisebbségi önkormányzati képviselõk választásáról szóló törvény módosítására.

Az alábbi tanulmány a Jugoszláv Kommunisták Szövetségének (JKSZ) nemzetiségi doktrínájáról és politikájáról, valamint a JKSZ egyik prominens vajdasági magyar teoretikusának, Rehák Lászlónak az idevágó írásairól szól. Rehák Lenin és Kardelj nyomán magyarázza a nemzetiségi kérdés összefüggését a gazdasággal. Habár a munkáiban nincs nyílt kritika az alkotmányos renddel és a politikával szemben, amellett érvelek, hogy ha összeszedjük az elszórt és valamicskét burkolt kritikai megjegyzéseit, világos, hogy elég jól látta a rezsim hibáit és igazságtalanságait.

Since the late 1980s, the interpretations of policy toward Hungary’s minorities—most notably the country’s 1993 minority law and the minority self-governments established as part of a system of nonterritorial autonomy (NTA)—have been the subject of debates in politics and academia in at least two critical respects. Aside from the declarative character of the law, foremost has been the question of Hungary’s kin-state activism toward Hungarians abroad and the implications this has carried for domestic minority issues. A second—and related—question has concerned the extent to which cultural autonomy and minority rights are in accordance with the needs of the Roma, by far the country’s largest ethnic minority group. A growing number of scholars have accepted the argument that the minority law was enacted because of concerns regarding Hungarian minorities living in the neighboring countries. In our view, it is more appropriate to ask instead how Hungary’s kin-state policies have influenc...

This paper examines opportunities and possibilities for national minority councils (NMC's) to serve as a channel for dialogue and cooperation between national minorities, governmental authorities and non-governmental organisations within the Republic of Serbia and across this state. The main objective of this paper is to review the constitutional and legal framework of trans-ethnic cooperation in Serbia. In order to achieve this, I am analysing the constitutional and legal status of NMC's, and their competences and role in the trans-ethnic cooperation in Serbia and across it. The model of trans-ethnic cooperation and its functioning in practice is analysed especially within the case study of the Slovak NMC in Serbia. The previous framework of cooperation was restricted by the decision of the Serbian Constitutional Court in 2014. Remaining opportunities and possibilities for NMC's in trans-ethnic cooperation are not fully used in practice. There is no systematic cooperation of the Slovak NMC with other organisations of ethnicities within and across Serbia. Trans-ethnic cooperation is not so common and is conducted usually on an ad hoc basis. Nevertheless, the existing institutional and legal model for trans-ethnic cooperation is relatively good. NMC's can and should be active agents fostering trans-ethnic cooperation in and beyond Serbia.

This essay analyses the 1993 Estonian Law on Cultural Autonomy for National Minorities (LCANM), based on an earlier one of 1925 during the first period of Estonian national independence, as the potential basis for the National Cultural Autonomy (NCA) of the Estonian Russian community. The latter was in fact never established in Estonia-and the question would be, why not? Law & Economics analysis is used in order to find out more about this complex matter. First, we discuss the issue of whether the purpose of the LCANM has actually been to further (Russian or any) NCA in Estonia to begin with. Second, if it was, then the question remains whether it is a bad thing that this never worked, either from the perspective of the Estonian state or from that of the Estonian Russians.

This article explores how the concept of minority national-cultural autonomy (NCA) has been defined and practiced in contemporary Estonia, combining data from interviews and previously unanalyzed archival sources to trace debates and policymaking processes back to 1988 and ascertain: why (and for whom) NCA was adopted; the functions ascribed to NCA institutions; and the effectiveness and legitimacy of the model in the eyes of different “noncore” ethnic communities. In so doing, the article uses NCA as a fresh lens for analyzing the more general politics of post-Soviet state and nation-building in the country, situating this case within the “Quadratic Nexus” framework. Estonia’s NCA law is generally viewed as irrelevant to ongoing issues of diversity governance in the country. However, Finnish and Swedish minority autonomies have been established and, in recent years, there have been three applications to establish a Russian NCA. None have been approved, and yet some authors see them as evidence that NCA could (and should) have a role to play in bringing about a more meaningful accommodation of ethnic diversity. Having reviewed the evidence, however, the article concludes that this claim is misplaced.

Numerous contemporary examples attest to the continued political salience of ethnic identification. This is the case even in multi-ethnic societies bound together by a strong overarching sense of patriotism, but it is most especially so in contexts where ethnicity has historically functioned as the building block of modern nations (Rudolph 2006). Since today’s world contains many more ethnoculturally defined nations than it does states, a tension persists between the principle of self-determination of peoples and the principle of territorial integrity of existing polities (Dembinska, Máracz, and Tonk 2014). The almost invariable overlapping of different ethno-national populations within the same territorial space renders the nation-state concept inherently problematic as a modality for ethnically based self-determination, for while all nation-state projects dictate cultural uniformity, all must contend with differing degrees of pluralism. Within the nation-state frame, those who do ...

In managing ethno-cultural diversity, several countries in Central and Eastern Europe refer to the notion of nonterritorial/cultural autonomy in their legislation and policies, and in some of them, namely Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovenia, registered minority voters are granted the right to create their own representational, consultative, or decision-making bodies by direct or indirect elections. While a growing body of literature has examined the functioning of these elected minority councils/self-governments at various levels, numerous features of their elections have not been addressed. Elections, commonly understood as formal group decision-making processes, may fulfill various functions both in theory and practice, and these are highly context-dependent. In this regard, little is known about the role played by minority elections in intra-community relations, and whether and how these elections can contribute to increasing legitimacy and accountability and strengthening the political weight and influence of the respective minority groups. This article seeks to address these issues. Written from a theoretical perspective, but based on electoral statistics and country experiences, it comparatively explores the main issues related to the special minority elections in the five countries of analysis and assesses whether they can be considered successful forms of diversity management.