Minorities as Citizens

About

In 2022, the Annual Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions will examine the participation of national minorities in political life. This topic encompasses a broad range of phenomena, starting with the legal definition of citizenship (that provides rights to participation), and continuing with political representation (parties), collective mobilization (social movements), transnational frameworks (European norms) and minority representative bodies (national councils).

While many of these phenomena are related to political science, others are sociological and legal. As a result, the Summer School will also be multi-disciplinary in scope and will thereby speak to many different audiences.

Furthermore, the Summer School will not only highlight conceptual lenses, but also profile practical examples and case studies. This will cover not only profiles of minority political parties, but also successful social movements, mechanisms for monitoring of European norms, and analyses of national minority councils. The German-Danish border region also provides an ideal source-base for these topics, since the minorities here embody all of these levels of participation.

Topics covered

Citizenship: How has the notion of citizenship evolved? How has this affected political participation of minorities? What challenges has it created for non-citizen minorities? What is the relevance of dual citizenship for minorities?

Legal and institutional frameworks: What are the key international norms allowing for the political participation of minorities? What international institutions oversee implementation of these norms? What role do supranational bodies such as the EU play in these processes? How much have transnational minority organizations contributed to this infrastructure?

Forms of political participation of minorities: How efficient and effective are different forms of political participation? Do they reflect recent developments in the notion of representation? How do online communication channels affect the way in which minorities mobilize and participate? How are minority women and minority youth represented?

Course leader

The programme will consist of lectures, seminars and workshops given by ECMI research staff and expert guest lecturers, including: Prof. Rainer Baubock (European University Institute) Prof. Vello Pettai (ECMI) Dr. habil. Kyriaki Topidi (ECMI)

Target group

The Summer School team aims to select a total number of 22 junior scholars, researchers or practitioners, having the following professional background: 

Students from relevant fields of studies (MA and PhD students), and/or 
Practitioners from the public sector, NGOs, mass-media.

Course aim

The programme will combine traditional and non-formal educational methods, interactive sessions and networking activities and will thus inspire the participants to engage with the topics of the course critically and from different perspectives and disciplinary approaches. 

The course will include: 

Keynote lectures delivered by prominent scholars, academic lectures and practitioners’ seminars 

Interactive workshops conducted by trained professionals and discussion sessions 

Meetings and networking with local minority stakeholders, panel discussions 

A study trip to local institutions and museum excursions in the Basque country (subject to COVID-19 related regulations)

Presentation and research exchange among the participants 

Social events (visits to selected museums/exhibitions, international evening).

Fee info