The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), in co-operation with the Political Science Department of Babes-Bolyai University, is looking for contributions on New Paradigms of Non-Territorial Autonomy. Abstracts should be sent by 1st of July 2015.
Background
According to conventional wisdom, non-territorial autonomy (NTA) of ethno-cultural groups and minorities must be based on legal frameworks and top-down institutionalized self-government or self-administration that allow members autonomy to decide about and managing their own affairs. Autonomy rights can be rather broad or very narrow depending on the specific situation and historical legacy of the ethno-cultural relations of society. They can be seen as a continuum from strong to weak, or a range from constitutional rights to disparate statutes and vague programmatic routines in public administration. However, with the increasing complexity of society, social fabrics and power structures, new modes of governance have gained stronghold and importance in the management of diverse societies. Top-down delegation of powers is no longer the only way to provide for differentiated public management. Network governance at micro and meso levels and bottom-up creation of spaces for politics as well as forces of globalization that reach beyond the power of the central state challenge government structures and delivery of public services. If the tools do not exist, actors may create the political spaces needed for developing the required tools, especially in the absence of government engagement. Governance and public management are thus in a new flux induced not only by the heterogeneity and diversity of societies directed by plural moral and ethical views of culture but also by external factors challenging power structures from many sides. These factors recast the landscape of the traditional NTA paradigm.
About the Call
As part of its project, Minorities and Non-Territorial Autonomy, the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), in co-operation with the Political Science Department of Babes-Bolyai University, is looking to collect and publish data on alternative approaches to diversity management that may be seen as new, emerging paradigms of NTA. These may be official, public policies and/or practices, formal or informal practices, groups usurping of powers bottom-up through action-oriented practices or networks of practices seeking better delivery of services. They may be single pieces of legislation that empower beyond the scope of the adopted text, or they may be public/private relationships established as a result of liberal regulations or lack of regulations. These phenomena may be found at many levels of societal management that can be described in terms of
- Subsidiarity and devolution
- Local self-government and federal structures
- Decentralisation and regional development structures
- Municipal and urban management
- Minority governance and minority rights regimes
- Legal pluralism and parallel law structures
- Network governance structures and social movements
- Other functions of relevance to ethno-cultural diversity
Of interest are current phenomena and models implemented since the end of the Cold War. The geographic reach is global, and the objects of study are ethno-cultural and religious groups in minority positions. Of particular interest are new cases of empowerment or self-empowerment at micro and meso levels. Originality in case study as well as in research is therefore important.
Contributions will be selected on the basis of abstracts and originality. Different disciplinary backgrounds and diverse methodological orientations are welcome but the general focus is governance and law. Authors of selected contributions must be willing to describe and analyze models, institutions, policies, programmes, practices and actions. The contributions will be divided into two strands: The most relevant contributions will be published in an edited volume elaborated jointly by the ECMI and Babes-Bolyai University and published by a major international university publisher (contributors will receive and work according to specific guidelines). The second group of contributions will be published in the electronic Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe.
Pending funding, an international conference will be organized in 2016. All selected contributors will be invited to present their papers.
Instructions
To apply, please send a 500 word abstract in English describing in brief the case study and its beneficiaries stressing the relevance of the case study to empowerment and self-empowerment and if possible also to authoritative theory and practice of NTA. Together with the abstract, kindly indicate your contact details and professional affiliation.
Deadline: 1st June 2015
Submit to: Ms. Oana Buta, buta[at]ecmi.de
Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.
