DEMOCRATISATION AND MINORITY RIGHTS IN THE POST-COMMUNIST BALKAN STATES

Year 2001, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 0 - 0, 01.07.2001

Birol Akgün

Abstract

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new independent states, scholars have turned their attention to developments in Eastern Europe. The expectation that a liberal democracy would soon replace ex-totalitarian regimes in the region is only partly realised. While some states mostly in Central Europe achieved a working democracy and were able to maintain domestic peace and security, some others mostly in the Balkans witnessed bloody wars and civil conflicts in the last decade. Readjustment of the borders in the Balkans reawakened old hatreds and ethnic hostilities causing unprecedented human suffering, which were quelled only by the intervention of the international community such as in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars.

References

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• 2 Ibid., p. 265.
• 3 The Economist, 'Survey: the Balkans: the Third Thaw', 24 January 1998. p. 56.
• 4 Hugh Poulton, Minorities in Southeast Europe: Inclusion and Exclusion, London, Minority Rights Group International, 1998. 5 The Economist, op. cit., p. 57.
• 6 Attila Agh, The Politics of East Central Europe, London, Sage Publications, 1998, p. 80.
• 7 Karen Dawisha and Bruce and Parrott (eds.), Politics, Power, and the Struggle for Democracy in the Southeast Europe, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 18.
• 8 Atilla Agh, The Politics of East Central Europe, op. cit., p. 84.
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• 10 Ibid., p. 100.
• 11 Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1985, p. 348.
• 12 J. D. Bell, 'Democratization and Political Participation in Postcommunist Bulgaria', in Karen Dawisha and Bruce and Parrott (eds.), Politics, Power and Struggle for Democracy, 1997, pp. 353-402.
• 13 Ibid., p. 357.
• 14 See Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights in Bulgaria in 1999, March 2000.
• 15 Duncan Perry, 'Macedonia's Quest for Security and Stability', Current History, 99 (635), 2000, pp. 129-136.
• 16 Emilija Simoska, 'Macedonia: a View on the Inter-Ethnic Relations', Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 2(2), 1997, pp. 93-103.
• 17 Duncan Perry, op. cit., p. 133.
• 18 See Hugh Poulton, op. cit., p. 67.
• 19 See Emilija Simoska, op. cit., p. 96
• 20 See B. Came, 'The Albanian Dream', Maclean's, 19 April 1999, pp. 29-30.
• 21 See The Economist, 'Oh No, not War in Macedonia as well', 10 March 2001, p. 29.
• 22 Ibid., p. 30.
• 23 See V. Tismaneau, 'Romainan Exceptionalism? Democracy, Ethnocracy, and Uncertain Pluralism in Post-Ceausescu Romania', in Karen Dawisha and Bruce and Parrott (eds.), Politics, Power and Struggle for Democracy, 1997, pp. 403-451.
• 24 A. Liebich, 'Getting Better, Getting Worse: Minorities in Central Europe', Dissent, summer 1996, p. 84-89.