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Conference Announcement
"Democratization and Ethnic Communities: Conflict,
Protection, and Accommodation"
International Workshop
Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto
Toronto, ON (Canada)
17-18 April 2009
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Co-organizers:
Oded Haklai (Queen's University)
Jacques Bertrand (University of Toronto)
While movement from an authoritarian to a democratic regime
usually improves the situation of ethnic groups in general,
and minorities in particular, recent scholarship has shown
that the process of democratization can sometimes be
accompanied by high levels of violence against or between
ethnic groups, resulting in less favourable conditions for
ethnic communities. Transitions to democracy frequently
produce procedural rather than liberal or substantive
democracies, with sometimes an overly strong emphasis on
elections. Many of these new regimes are characterized by
majority dominance and ethnocentrism. They are frequently
premised on a specific relationship between the nation and
the state, whereby the nation is cast as an expression of a
particular group, for example, Romanians in Romania, Serbs
in Serbia, Turks in Turkey, Malays in Malaysia. In spite of
being democratic, these states often times fail to provide
protections and rights to minority groups. Varying paths or
transitions toward democracy create very different outcomes
for how ethnic identities, communities and politics are
recognized and treated in new democracies, and, in
particular, how minorities are treated under these new
regimes.
The aim of the workshop is to explore empirical,
theoretical, and policy-relevant questions regarding
processes by which ethnic communities, particularly
minorities, gain better recognition, protection and rights
under newly democratizing regimes. We seek to map the
various experiences of ethnic communities in democratizing
countries comparatively and explain the variation in ethnic
recognition, status, protection and community rights. On
these foundations, we aim to address normative and
policyrelevant questions about when and how far ethnic
recognition and group rights protection can be pressed
during fragile transitions to democracy. The conundrum is
that advancing ethnic recognition and collective group
rights is easier where liberal democracy is already
well-established. In countries undergoing regime transition,
some level of democratic consolidation might be needed
before it is feasible to address the question of minority
rights. Yet, it is precisely in countries where democratic
institutions are not consolidated that the problem of
violent ethnic conflict and lack of subordinate group
protection are most acute.
Guiding questions:
- Under what conditions have ethnic minorities suffered
during democratization and when have they benefited?
- What are the various factors that explain why
inter-group violence and repression against
subordinate ethnic groups occurs during an unstable
period of democratic transition, while in other cases
it does not?
- What are the factors that explain beneficial
outcomes, in terms of recognition, rights or
institutional protection?
Furthermore, arising from empirical conditions as well as
other principled considerations, it is not obvious whether,
or how ethnic communities should be protected or minority
rights should be introduced in new democracies. The workshop
therefore aims to probe as well:
- How should ethnic communities be recognised and
accommodated in the process of regime transition?
- Under what conditions is the sequential introduction of
collective group rights a desirable strategy?
- What has been/should be the role of international
institutions in ensuring that ethnic
recognition/accommodation, and minority rights are preserved
during this process?
Contact:
Jennifer Clark
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.queensu.ca/edg/events.html#dec
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