Minority rights in Europe: From Westphalia to Helsinki

Review of International Studies

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 75-92

  Preece, Jennifer Jackson ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0031537772     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0260210597000752     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
2. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
3. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
4. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
5. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
6. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
7. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
8. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
9. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
10. Among the best works which examine various aspects of the 'problem of minorities' are the following: I. Bagley, General Principles and Problems in the International Protection of Minorities (Geneva, 1950); I. Claude, National Minorities: An International Problem (Cambridge, MA, 1955); G. Gotlieb, Nation Against State (New York, 1993); W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, 1995); J. Laponce, The Protection of Minorities (Berkeley, CA, 1960); C. Macartney, Nation States and National Minorities (London, 1934); J. Mayall, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge, 1990); H. Miall (ed.), Minority Rights in Europe (London, 1994); D. Moynihan, Pandaemonium; Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford, 1993); and P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991).
11. For a discussion of inside/outside distinctions in international relations see R. Walker, Inside/Outside: International Relations as Political Theory (Cambridge, 1993).
12. The actual transformation from medieval to modern international relations was of course a gradual development which began in the 1550s and ended with the 1716 Treaty of Utrecht. The Westphalian Settlement occupies a special position within this process because it was the charter of a Europe permanently organized on an anti-hegemonial principle. See A. Watson, The Evolution of International Society (London, 1922),ch. 17.
13. H. Bull and A. Watson, The Expansion of International Society, (Oxford, 1984), pp. 14-17.
14. C. Parry, Parry's International Treaty Series, vol. 42, pp. 324, 326.
15. Ibid. p. 324.
16. For an account of the Congress of Vienna which discloses the continued pre-eminence of the society of princes see H. Nicolson, The Congress of Vienna (London, 1946).
17. Parry, Treaty Series, vol. 64, p. 457.
18. Macartney, Nation States, p. 161.
19. There is an earlier precedent for minority guarantees in south-eastern Europe which predates even the Treaty of Westphalia. The inclusion of religious guarantees for Christian communities in Ottoman lands was a common feature of relations between Christian and Islamic powers from the Middle Ages onward. Such Christian minority guarantees obtained from the Sublime Porte, however, usually differ fundamentally from those minority stipulations later demanded of the new states in Eastern and Central Europe. First, such conditions were not prerequisites for European recognition of Ottoman independence. Secondly, the Sublime Porte usually interpreted such guarantees as international confirmation of traditional Ottoman practices regarding religious communities rather than serious external impositions or curtailments of its domestic power. The millet system, which prevailed in the Ottoman Empire from the fifteenth century to the 1920s, gave each religious community substantial autonomy with regard to education and property as well as religious affairs.
20. For a discussion of the standard of civilization in international relations see G. Gong, The Standard of Civilization (Oxford, 1984).
21. Macartney, Nation States, p. 166.
22. A. J. P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (London, 1954), pp. 232-3.
23. Claude, National Minorities, pp. 8-9.
24. Ibid.
25. Poland was so bound as a result of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Czechoslovakia by the 1919 Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, Romania by the 1919 Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia) by the 1919 Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, Greece by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.
26. Austria accepted guarantees for her minorities as a result of the 1919 Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, Hungary did likewise by the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Bulgaria by the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, and Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
27. One noteworthy exception to the interwar failings with regard to minority protection is the Aaland Islands Agreement of 1921 between Finland and Sweden. Although technically not a part of the League of Nations minority system - it was not a condition of Finland's admission to the League of Nations and does not appear in the treaty series of the League of Nations but only in the Council minutes of 27 June 1921 - this agreement, together with the additional guarantees given by the Finnish government in a domestic act of 1922, provided the Aalanders with both minority protection and an organization to develop local self-government. These Aaland provisions not only outlived the League of Nations but were reaffirmed and strengthened in the domestic Finnish Aaland Autonomy Act of 1951 which remains in effect today.
28. United Nations Document E/CN.4/367.
29. United Nations Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/214, p. 3.
30. The UN Trusteeship Council, however, did make recommendations in favour of adopting minority rights provisions in those non-European territories with which it was concerned. This tendency to link minority questions with border revisions, which of course has deep roots in the history of international society, culminated in the 1953 Resolution 520 F (XVI) of the Economic and Social Council which recognized the principle of providing minority guarantees on occasions of territorial redistribution. This resolution had little practical effect during the Cold War, as the process of decolonization in Africa and Asia did not modify the pre-existing colonial boundaries but instead elevated them to an international status.
31. Nevertheless, outside the auspices of the Council of Europe, certain of its members did enter into minority agreements to resolve outstanding minority questions; for example, the De Gasperi-Gruber Agreement of 1946 between Austria and Italy concerning German-speaking minorities in Bolzano and Trento, the 1955 agreement between Denmark and the Federal Republic of Germany concerning Danes and Germans on either side of the border in Schleswig, and the Austrian State treaty of 1955 concerning Slovenes and Croats in Carinthia, Burgenland and Styria.
32. V. Mastny, The Helsinki Process and the Re-integration of Europe 1986-1991 (London, 1992), pp. 11-21.
33. A gradual process of transformation, including the re-emergence of national identities, had of course already been under way in Communist East-Central Europe and the Soviet Union for some time prior to the cataclysmic events of 1989-91. See, for example. J. Rothschild, Return to Diversity (Oxford, 1989), and G. Smith (ed.) The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (London, 1990).
34. A gradual process of transformation, including the re-emergence of national identities, had of course already been under way in Communist East-Central Europe and the Soviet Union for some time prior to the cataclysmic events of 1989-91. See, for example. J. Rothschild, Return to Diversity (Oxford, 1989), and G. Smith (ed.) The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (London, 1990).
35. It is important to note that international organizations not specifically concerned with Europe were also rediscovering the importance of minority questions during the 1990s. Thus, for example, the United Nations Sub-commission for the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which had ignored minority issues for the duration of the Cold War, began serious work on minority rights texts. This activity culminated in the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. This text can be regarded as the global minimum standard for the treatment of minorities, although within Europe itself the OSCE and Council of Europe minority texts require an even more stringent code of state conduct.
36. The Convention was opened for signature on 1 February 1995. As of 31 March 1995, there were twenty-two signatories: Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
37. The heads of state and government of the member states of the Council of Europe decided at their Vienna Summit Meeting on 9 October 1993 to adopt both a national minorities protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that would be open to all signatories of the ECHR and a separate convention on national minorities which would be open to both members and non-members of the Council of Europe.