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Nationalism and Minorities in Southeast Europe

4801-E13

BAL

Course Director: Dr Vassilis Petsinis (Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies)

E-mail: hwd227@hum.ku.dk

Teaching description: This course comprises a series of lectures and seminars. The seminars

are held on a fortnightly basis after the relevant lectures. Throughout the course, students will

be given some recommended reading and they will be assigned certain writing tasks. This

mainly involves the preparation of short position-papers (2 pages long) on subjects of their

own choice. Students are required to present and discuss their position-papers during the

seminars. More detailed information on the lectures and the seminars follows later in this

outline.

Course summary:

This course aims at enlightening students about the interaction between nationalism(s) and

ethnic minorities in Southeast Europe, as well as its sociopolitical implications for

contemporary states and societies in this region. This involves reference to theoretical,

historical and empirical approaches. In the beginning, this course will entail reading on the

various theoretical approaches to nationalism and their application within the historical and

political context of Southeast Europe. This will also require a brief comparison between the

evolutionary patterns of nationalism in the Western and the Eastern parts of the Continent.

Particular attention will be paid to the theoretical and legal definitions of the term ‘ethnic

minority’ in international law and the academic literature. As the course progresses, a greater

emphasis will be laid on the application of this theoretical framework in selected case-studies

(or comparative studies) from the region. Particular attention will be paid to the contemporary

patterns of ethnic relations as they become manifest in Southeast Europe. This course will

also cover thematic areas such as ethnic conflict and conflict-regulation, as well as the

position of Southeast European nationalisms within supranational processes in the region

(most notably, EU’s eastward enlargement). This course will place Southeast European

nationalisms and minority issues within the broader context of Post-Communist Europe. This

means that any position-papers and other essays with a partial focus on, say, Central Eastern

Europe and/or the Post-Soviet space are also welcome. Throughout the course, a selection of

recommended articles and other sources will be uploaded on the KU-Intranet.

Course objectives:

- To enlighten students about theoretical approaches to nationalism and minority issues, as well as their application within Southeast European settings.

- To sharpen the students’ critical thought and independent ability to apply theory in contemporary comparative or case-studies.

- To motivate students to formulate and resolve research problems in regards with the phenomenon of nationalism and the patterns of ethnic relations in Southeast Europe.

- To enhance the students’ competence in writing a research report.

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Position-papers:

These should not be longer than 2 pages. A set of ‘sample-questions’ will be provided

beforehand. Then, the students are expected to prepare a short text revolving around the

sample-question(s). Alternatively, students are welcome to develop their own position-

paper topics based on the sample-questions. Position-papers will not be marked but they

will still be commented upon and discussed during the seminars. The ability to write a

short text with a smooth style, solid structure and clarity of argument will be appreciated.

Students are expected to write position-papers for all sessions throughout this course.

Deadlines will be timely announced on the KU-intranet.

Week 36 GENERAL INTRODUCTION: A PRELIMINARY OUTLINE OF THE

COURSE

During this session, the course will be formally introduced to the students. This will also

involve consideration of the students’ views about how the course should run, how the

seminars should take place, what additional literature can be included and other issues of

concern.

Week 37 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO NATIONALISM

This part of the course entails reading on a variety of theoretical outlooks on the

phenomena of nationalism and nationhood. This touches upon theoretical approaches such

as primordialism (Fichte, Herder), modernism (Gellner, Greenfeld, Hobsbawm, and

Anderson), ethno-symbolism (Smith, Connor, and Hastings) and the

cognitive/instrumental approach (Billig, Brubaker) to nations and nationalism. The main

objective is to provide a general introduction to theories of nationalism and enhance the

students’ ability to apply them within the context of ethnic relations in Southeast Europe.

Sample position-paper topics:

What do theories of nationalism actually tell us? How useful can they be for our understanding of nationalism as an ‘everyday’ social and political phenomenon

(especially in Southeast Europe)?

Compare two theoretical approaches to nations and nationalism (e.g. ethno-

symbolism and modernism). Which one do you find most applicable in the study of

nationalism in Southeast Europe?

Reading list (books and articles):

Anderson, Benedict: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of

Nationalism, Verso: London (1983).

Anderson, Benedict in Hutchinson, John & Smith D Anthony (eds.): Nationalism.

Oxford University Press 1994: (Chapter 14).

Beiner, Ronald (ed.): Theorizing Nationalism. Albany 1998: (Chapters: 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11).

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Billig, Michael: Banal Nationalism, SAGE: Loughborough (1995).

Brubaker, Rogers: ‘Ethnicity without Groups’

(http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/brubaker/).

Brubaker, Rogers: ‘Ethnicity as Cognition’

(http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/brubaker/).

Brubaker, Rogers: ‘National Minorities, Nationalizing States and External Homelands in the

New Europe’ (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/brubaker/).

Connor, Walker: Ethnonationalism: A Quest for Understanding, Routledge: London (1993).

Gellner, Ernest: Nations and Nationalism, Blackwell: Oxford (1983).

Greenfeld, Leah: Nationalism. Five Roads to Modernity. Harvard University Press:

Cambridge 1993.

Hastings, Adrian: The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism,

Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (1997).

von Herder, Johan Gottfried in Dahbour, Omar & Ishay, R Micheline (eds.):

The Nationalism Reader. Humanities Press: (Chapter 4).

Hobsbawm, Eric: Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth and Reality,

Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (1992).

Hobsbawm, Eric (ed.): The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

(1992).

Hobsbawn, Eric in Hutchinson, John & Smith D Anthony (eds.): Nationalism.

Oxford University Press 1994: (Chapter 12).

Smith, Anthony D: Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford 1999: (Chapters: 3, 6, and 10).

Smith, Anthony D: National Identity. Nevada University Press, 1991.

Week 38 SEMINAR 1

Week 39 NATIONALISM IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE: A HISTORICAL OUTLOOK

This part of the course entails reading on the historical evolution of nationalism and the

nation-building processes in Southeast Europe. This will require the use of historiographical

as well as theoretical sources. The main objective is to introduce students to the evolutionary

patterns of nations and nationalism in the region and set in context the specificities involved in

these processes. This will primarily highlight the various trajectories via which ethnic

minority identities have been shaped in the Southeast European nation-states. Of particular

interest is to highlight any signs of divergence between the emergence of nationalism and

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nation-building processes in the Western and the Eastern parts of the Continent. This

historical overview will place Southeast Europe within the broader context of historical

development in the Eastern part of the Continent, thus involving partial references to the

Central East European and the Post-Soviet spaces.

Sample position-paper topics:

Ethnic relations in Southeast Europe: Does history matter and up to what extent?

Discuss.

What is so specific about the nation-building processes in Southeast Europe? In which ways (if any) do they differentiate from similar processes in the West?

Reading list (books and articles):

Breuilly John, Nationalism and the State, Chicago University Press: Chicago (1997).

Cobban Alfred, The Nation-State and National Self-Determination, (revised edition), Collins:

London (1969).

Cole John W, ‘Ethnicity and the Rise of Nationalism’, in Beck Sam and Cole JW (eds.),

Ethnicity and Nationalism in Southeastern Europe, University of Amsterdam Press:

Amsterdam (1981), pp 105-134.

Crampton RJ, Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, Routledge: London (1994).

Hall, D and Danta D: ‘Perception and Realities’; ‘Contemporary Balkan Question: the

Geographic and Historic Context’ in D. Hall, D. Danta, eds. Reconstructing the Balkans,

Chichester 1996, chs. 1 and 2, p.p. 3-34.

Jelavich Barbara, History of the Balkans (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries), volumes 1

and 2, Columbia University Press: New York (1983).

Kamenka Eugene (ed.), Nationalism: The Evolution of an Idea, Australian National

University Press: Canberra (1973).

Kann RH, The Multinational Empire: Nationalism and National Reform in the Habsburg

Empire (1848-1918), vol. 2, Octagon: New York (1983).

Karpat Kemal, ‘The Ethnicity Problem in a Multiethnic Anational State: Continuity and

Recasting of Identity in the Ottoman state’, in Brass Paul R (ed.), Ethnic Groups and the

State, Barnes and Noble Books: London (1985), pp 94-114.

Kohn, Hans in Hutchinson, John & Smith D Anthony (eds.) Nationalism.

Oxford University Press 1994, chapter 24.

Mann Michael, ‘A Political Theory of Nationalism and Its Excesses’, in Periwal Sukumar

(ed.), Notions of Nationalism, Central European University Press: Budapest (1995), pp. 44-64.

Martin, T., ‘An Affirmative Action Empire’ in Suny, R & Martin, T (eds): A State of Nations:

Empire and Non-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin. Oxford 2001.

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Plamenatz John, ‘Two Types of Nationalism’, in Kamenka Eugene (ed.), Nationalism: The

Evolution of an Idea, Australian National University Press: Canberra (1973), pp. 22-36.

Rabow-Edling, Susanna: ‘Kohn´s Dichotomy and the Emergence of Russian

Nationalism’ in Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Vol. 8, No.3, 2008.

Renan, Ernest in Dahbour, Omar & Ishay, R Micheline (eds):The Nationalism Reader.

Humanities Press, chapter 13.

Rothschild J, East Central Europe between the Two World Wars, University of Washington

Press: Washington (1974).

Seton-Watson H, Eastern Europe between the Wars (1918-1941), Halper Row: New York

(1967).

Sieyès, Emmanuel Joseph: “What is the Third Estate?” in Modern History Sourcebook. Paris

1789.

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr in Dahbour, Omar & Ishay, R Micheline (eds):

The Nationalism Reader. Humanities Press: (Chapter 16).

Sugar P and Lederer IJ, Nationalism in Eastern Europe, University of Washington Press:

Washington DC (1969).

Week 40 SEMINAR 2

Week 41 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE: THE

LEGAL AND INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS

This part of the course aims at introducing students to the legal and international aspects of

ethnic relations in the broader region. First, an attempt will be made to define the term ‘ethnic

minority’ through references to international law and the academic literature. Particular

attention will be paid to international legal standards for the protection of minority rights as

well as to the national legislations. Of great interest will also be to assess the extent to which

supranational processes such as the EU’s eastward enlargement have impacted on nationalism

and its potential in Central and Southeast Europe. This entails a reference to the EU’s

conditionality principle and the ways that it has encouraged (or not) the formulation of new

frameworks for minority rights in the light of the Post-Communist states’ trajectories to the

European Union.

Sample position-paper topics:

The European Union’s eastward enlargement: Has it exerted any impact on the adequate protection of minority rights in Central and Southeast Europe and to which

extent?

Legal frameworks for the protection of minority rights in Central and Southeast

Europe: Adequate or insufficient? Discuss.

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Reading list (books and articles):

Agarin Timofey and Brosig Malte (eds.), Minority Integration in Central Eastern

Europe:Between Ethnic Diversity and Equality, Rodopi: Amsterdam-New York (2009).

Alfredsson, G. and Melander, G, A Compilation of Minority Rights Standards: A Selection

of Texts from International and Regional Human Rights Instruments and Other

Documents, Report No.24. Lund, Raoul Wallenberg Institute (1997).

Bruszt, L. and Stark, D., 2003. ‘Who Counts? Supranational Norms and Societal Needs’,

in East European Politics and Societies, 17, 1, 74-82.

Grabbe, Heather ‘European Union Conditionality and the Acquis Communautaire’ in

International Political Science Review, Vol. 23, No. 3, (2002).

Gyurcsík Ivan, ‘New Legal Ramifications of the Question of National Minorities’, in Ian

M. Cuthbertson and Jane Leibowitz (eds.), Minorities: The New Europe’s Old Issue,

Colorado: Westview Press (1993).

Haughton, Tim, ‘When Does the EU Make a Difference? Conditionality and the

Accession Process in Central and Eastern Europe’, in Political Studies Review, Vol 5,

(2007), pp. 233-246.

Hofmann R, ‘The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: An

Introduction’, in Weller, M. (ed.), The Rights of Minorities: A Commentary on the

European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Oxford,

Oxford University Press (2006).

Hofmann R, ‘The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities’, in

Rechel, B. (ed.), Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe. Oxford, Routledge

(2009).

Johns M, ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do: The European Union, Eastern Europe and Minority

Rights’ in East European Politics and Societies, 17, 4, 682-699, (2009).

Kelley Judith, Ethnic Politics in Europe: The Power of Norms and Incentives,

Princeton University Press: Princeton (2006).

Konovalov Alexander and Efstaviev Dmitri, ‘The Problem of Ethnic Minority Rights

Protection in the Newly Independent States,’ in Cuthbertson Ian M and Leibowitz Jane

(eds.), Minorities: The New Europe’s Old Issue, Colorado: Westview Press (1993).

Rechel Bernd (ed.), Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe, Routledge: Oxford

(2009).

Schissler Hanna and Soysal Y.N. (eds.), The Nation, Europe and the World,

Berghann: New York & Oxford (2005).

Schwellnus, G, ‘Anti-discrimination Legislation’ in Bernd Rechel (ed.), Minority Rights

in Central and Eastern Europe. Oxford, Routledge (2009).

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Various Authors, Beyond Sovereignty: From Status Law to Transnational Citizenship?

Hokkaido University Press: Sapporo (2004).

Vasiljević, S, ’The Legal Aspects of the Protection of Minorities in the Process of

Stabilization and Association’ in Ott, K (ed.), Croatian Accession to the EU: Institutional

Challenges, vol.2. Zagreb, Institute of Public Finance (2002).

Week 43 SEMINAR 3

Week 44 PATTERNS OF NATIONALISM AND ETHNIC RELATIONS IN

CONTEMPORARY CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE

This part of the course aims at helping students apply theoretical outlooks on nationalism

in the assessment of actual patterns of ethnic relations or cases of ethnic conflict in

Southeast Europe. This will entail the use of theoretical sources as well as empirical

material. This means that the students themselves are encouraged to search for suitable

material in the Internet and elsewhere. However, Internet sources should always be

selected and used with caution. Relevant material may also be uploaded on the KU-

intranet if students experience difficulties in their search for suitable sources.

Sample position-paper topics:

Compare two examples of ethnic relations and/or ethnic conflict in Central and Southeast Europe. Concentrate on the protagonists and the ways that the patterns of

ethnic interaction unfold. In which of the two cases is the propensity for conflict

higher (or lower)? Provide tentative explanations for this.

The impact of kin-states on ethnic relations (e.g. Serbia as a kin-state for the ethnic

Serbs in Croatia; Hungary as a kin-state for the Hungarian minority in Romania):

Constructive or detrimental? Discuss. Both comparative studies and case-studies are

welcome.

Reading list (books and articles):

Ashbrook, J., ‘Self-perceptions, Denials, and Expressions: Istrianity in a Nationalizing

Croatia, 1990-1997’, in Nationalities Papers, 33, 4, 459-487 (2005).

Brubaker, Rogers: ‘Ethnicity without Groups’

(http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/brubaker/).

Brubaker, Rogers: ‘National Minorities, Nationalizing States and External Homelands in the

New Europe’ (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/brubaker/).

Bugajski Janusz, Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies,

Organizations and Parties, The Center for Strategic and International Studies: New York

(1994).

Craiutu Aurelian, ‘A Dilemma of Dual Identity: The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in

Romania’, in East European Constitutional Review, Spring 1995.

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Cuthbertson Ian M and Leibowitz Jane (eds.), Minorities: The New Europe’s Old Issue,

Colorado: Westview Press (1993).

Graan, Andrew: ‘On the Politics of Imidž: European Integration and the Trials of Recognition

in Post-Conflict Macedonia’, in Slavic Review, Vol. 69, No.4, p.p. 835-858.

Jenkins Brian and Sofos Spyros S, Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe, Routledge:

London (1996).

Kymlicka W and Opalski M (eds.). Can Liberal Pluralism Be Exported? Oxford, Oxford

University Press (2001).

Kymlicka Will, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford

University Press: Oxford (1995).

Lauristin M and Heidmets M, The Integration of Non-Estonians into Estonian Society:

Emerging Multicultural Democracy in Estonia, Tartu University Press: Tartu (2002).

McGarry J and O’Leary B, The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation: Cases of Protracted

Ethnic Conflicts, Routledge: London (1993).

Minority Rights Group, Minorities in Croatia, 2003. (http://www.minorityrights.org).

Mungiu-Pippidi Alina and Krastev Ivan, Nationalism after Communism: Lessons Learned,

Budapest: CEU Press (2004).

Petsinis, Vassilis: 'Croatia’s Framework for Minority Rights: New Legal Prospects within the

Context of European Integration' in Ethnopolitics, 2013 (online version – to be uploaded on

the KU-intranet).

Petsinis Vassilis, ‘Serbs and Ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina: Ethnic Conflict Placed within a

Framework beyond Groupism’, in Slovak Sociological Review, vol.40, no.3 (2008), pp. 258-

277.

Petsinis Vassilis, ‘Vojvodina’s National Minorities: Current Realities and Future Prospects’,

in Spaces of Identity, vol. 3[1].2, August 2003 (http://www.spacesofidentity.net).

Poulton Hugh, ‘The Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians and Rysyns/Ukrainians of the

Vojvodina’, in Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, Minority Rights Group

International: London (1993). (http://www.minorityrights.org).

Rady Martyn, ‘Self-determination and the Dissolution of Yugoslavia’, in Ethnic and Racial

Studies, Volume 19, Number 2, April 1996, pp. 377-389.

Ramet Sabrina Petra, Who’s Democracy? Nationalism, Religion and the Doctrine of

Collective Rights in Post-1989 Eastern Europe, London: Rowman and Littlefield (1997).

Rechel Bernd (ed.), Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe, Routledge:

Oxford (2009).

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Trifunovska Snežana, Minority Rights in Europe: Minorities and Languages, T.M.C. Asser

Press: The Hague (2001).

Week 45 SEMINAR 4

Week 46 SOUTHEAST EUROPE: SELECTED CASE-STUDY (1)

This session will be dedicated to the detailed discussion of politicized nationalism and the

interaction between ethnic minorities and dominant majorities in a Southeast European state

of choice. The choice of the state in question will be discussed and agreed upon with the

students at some earlier session. The reading list and the sample questions for the position-

papers will be duly posted on the KU-intranet.

Week 47 SEMINAR 5

Week 48 SOUTHEAST EUROPE: SELECTED CASE-STUDY (2)

Same as in week 45.

Week 49 SEMINAR 6

Week 50 Week 20 FINAL RECAPITULATION

An overall assessment of the course will take place. This may also include a preliminary

discussion and guidance over the students’ writing plans with their final essays (if necessary).

An additional option may be the projection of a relevant film or documentary in the class.

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