May the state, from a liberal point of view, operate laws and institutions that impede the mobile lifestyle of nomadic Roma and Travellers, or should the state take steps to accommodate their nomadic way of life? This is the essence of the problem of Roma and Traveller itinerancy and the question that is at the heart of this three-partite dissertation. The first part of the dissertation looks at public policy in France and the United Kingdom and describes the six public policy problems that constitute the problem of Roma and Traveller itinerancy. These problems concern the education of children, the French travel permits system, the legal conditions for voter registration and for GP registration, the housing benefits system, and the public provision of halting sites. The second part looks at liberal political theory. It suggests that contemporary liberalism divides into two strands that take different views on the entitlements of cultural and religious minorities, and it provides a detailed outline of the prime articulations of each approach, namely the multiculturalist liberalism of Kymlicka and the classic neutrality liberalism of Barry. The third part investigates what the two said liberalisms imply for the six policy problems from part 1. These analyses suggest that the two liberalisms have slightly diverging implications for the halting sites problem, the housing benefits problem and the problem of GP registration. They suggest furthermore that the two accounts converge on the question of voter registration and agree that the voter registration system must accommodate nomads, and may not make the possession of a fixed residence an absolute condition for voter registration. And the analyses suggest finally that the two liberalisms also converge over the education question and the travel permits question, but here support polices that are potentially inimical to Roma and Traveller itinerancy. The broader implications of these findings are that liberalism is potentially, but not necessarily and not intrinsically, inimical to Roma and Traveller nomadism, and that the disagreement between classic neutrality liberalism and multiculturalist liberalism is weak insofar as public policy is concerned.

Following the war in Kosovo in 1999, the international community embarked on the most extensive international peace- and state-building project to date. From the early UN administration of Kosovo until the end of 'supervised independence' in 2012, various international organisations played a critical role in shaping the post-war polity. Throughout this engagement, the international community was driven by normative commitments to multi-ethnicity. However, while international organisations were committed to making Kosovo 'multi-ethnic', lack of clarity prevailed about what this goal entailed, or why it was so important. The thesis seeks to answer two inter-related questions: what was meant by multi-ethnicity on the part of its proponents, and what explains the prominence of commitments to this idea. Taking the form of three sections, the thesis examines these commitments' origins, manifestations, and explanations. International normative commitments to multi-ethnicity are found to originate in a shifting conception of the relationship between ethnic diversity and legitimate statehood during the twentieth century. Their manifestations in Kosovo are studied in three policy domains: the return of displaced persons, decentralisation of government to the local level, and minority rights. The thesis finds that international efforts in the pursuit of multi-ethnicity in Kosovo exhibited conflicting notions of multi-ethnicity, which shifted from integrationist ambitions to notions that reconciled the reality of segregation between ethnic groups on the ground through a 'politics of recognition'. The goal of multi-ethnicity remained, but was transformed. Explanations for the commitments to multi-ethnicity are found in both normative and consequentialist considerations, by uncovering unspoken underlying assumptions, and in the identity and self-image concerns of international actors. These findings indicate the power of the normative environment in shaping the actions of international organisations and provide insights into the thus far under-theorised normative dimension of the international state-building project in Kosovo.

La Turquie a connu un nouveau tournant dans les relations entre l'UE et la Turquie le 3 octobre 2005, lorsque les négociations pour la pleine adhésion ont débuté. Lorsque le gouvernement turc de coalition a commencé à améliorer les droits de l'homme et les droits des minorités en Turquie en 1999, l'Union européenne a commencé à adopter une perspective différente sur son adhésion à l'UE. L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en lumière les progrès réalisés en matière de droits de l'homme et de droits linguistiques des minorités non officielles en Turquie compte tenu de l'adhésion à l'Union européenne. L'étude est basée sur une analyse documentaire, une méthode de recherche en sciences politiques, où nous avons examiné les rapports de progrès et les résolutions du Parlement européen sur les progrès réalisés par la Turquie ainsi que d'autres documents internationaux relatifs à la minorité et/ou aux droits de l'homme et les documents d’archive ottoman et turc. Ces documents ont été examinés sous l'angle des droits linguistiques. Nous avons découvert que la Turquie devrait élargir sa compréhension des minorités et que le turc doit être la langue officielle tandis que toutes les autres langues devraient être reconnues officiellement sans donner un statut de minorité. Donc, si un ressortissant turc veut avoir un emploi dans une unité gouvernementale, il doit connaître le turc alors que sa propre langue maternelle n'est pas interdite, comme en Angleterre et en France, où l'anglais ou le français sont obligatoires alors que toutes les autres langues sont libres à apprendre et pratiquer dans les médias, l'école et en public. / Turkey had a new turning point in EU-Turkey relations on 3 October 2005 when the negotiations for full membership started. When the Turkish government of coalition started to improve human rights and minority rights in Turkey, the European Union commenced to adopt a different perspective on the accession to the EU in 1999. The objective of this study is to shed light on the progress in human rights and linguistic rights of the unofficial minorities in Turkey in view of European Union membership. The study is based on document analysis, one of research methods in political science, where we examined the progress reports and European Parliament resolutions on the progress made by Turkey as well as other international documents related to the minority and/or human rights besides Ottoman and Turkish archives. These documents were examined from the perspective of language rights. We found out that Turkey should broaden its understanding of minorities and the language of the state should be Turkish while all other languages should be recognized officially. So, if one national wants to have a job in any government unit, Turkish must be the official language while their own mother tongue is not forbidden like in England and France where English or French respectively are obligatory while all other languages are free to be learned and practiced in media, school, and in public.

The Republic of Kosovo’s self-declared multiethnic society has strived to construct an inclusive attitude and tolerating spirit toward all communities within. This study has explored how group-differentiated rights are used to construct identity and multiethnicity in relation to European integration in four official documents using the research questions; how is the production of identity and multiethnicity through group-differentiated rights in Kosovo constructed in the documents and related to EU integration; and how has the EU accession process affected the construction of multiethnicity and identity in Kosovo’s documents on minorities relating to group-differentiated rights? An ethnographic content analysis and comparative design, with a social constructivist perspective, grasping the constituents of group-differentiated rights concerning exclusive rights granted to minorities employed to develop, and safeguard identities was applied. The key findings have demonstrated that the development of group-differentiated rights through multiethnicity and identity relating to EU accession and integration may be considered mutually constitutive, creating a path for Kosovo's future EU membership and a sustainable multiethnic society founded on democracy and the rule of law. Although, Kosovo has demonstrated a readiness to adjust and adhere to EU directives, adequate implementation of minority and human rights is the first and primary step toward EU membership.

No / The rights of minorities are becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of enlargement of the European Union, yet there are remarkably few treaties dealing with minority rights under international law. One of these is the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This volume provides the first expert commentary on the Convention, which is the principal international document establishing minority rights in a legally binding way. Many minority rights such as those to political participation, non-assimilation, and the use of native languages are not incorporated in other major Human Rights agreements. The Convention is therefore often taken to be the leading standard in the international law of minority rights.

Against the background of the lack of consensus on the definition of the concept minority and the continuing debates on minorities and their rights in education, a need exists for adequate provision of education suitable to different minorities. This study investigates the provision of education to minorities. A literature survey investigated how various countries make provision for minorities in their education systems, starting from the Constitutions and various education laws to educational practice. These countries include Belgium, Getmany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy. Regarding South Africa, an analysis of documents dealing with the provision of education to minorities was undertaken. Unstructured interviews, from a small sample of informants selected by purposeful sampling, elicited additional data to the document analysis. Data was analysed, discussed and synthesised. The major findings are: there is no international consensus on the definition of the concept minority; the concept minority does not even appear in the Constitutions of some of the countries under investigation; the South African Constitution uses the concept communities rather than minorities. However, no definition of the concept community is provided and despite reservations expressed by a key informant on group rights, generally the South African Constitution contains enough sections regarding the provision of education to minorities. Subject to certain limitations, minority groups may open their own schools and use their own language. Based on these findings, recommendations for educational provision for minorities are made. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Comparative Education)

The subject of this thesis is a detailed mapping transformation Baltic States after 1991, and their coexistence with the Russian minority in Latvia. The work seeks to analyze and describe the specific case situation that took place after 1991. The work deals with the development of Latvia, the Russian minority status and the introduction of controversial laws on citizenship. Tries to find answers to questions about what led Latvia to the strict laws on citizenship. The work shows, that the main reason is the big Russian minority in these countries, which is considered like a threat to the political independence of the Baltic states. The first part is focused on the characteristics of minorities, showing different perspectives on the history and mapping of the Baltic States. The second part details the progress, that affect a very strained relationship between Latvians and the Russian minority, which led to the introduction of strict rules for obtaining citizenship in Latvia.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-09-28T16:48:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Analice Cabral Costa Andrade_.pdf: 544151 bytes, checksum: 520fbd750df60e0c64804793014968c7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-28T16:48:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Analice Cabral Costa Andrade_.pdf: 544151 bytes, checksum: 520fbd750df60e0c64804793014968c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-11 / Nenhuma / Essa dissertação se prende a analisar a teoria da justiça de John Rawls e seus conceitos de véu da ignorância, consenso sobreposto, justiça como equidade e contrato social, compreendendo qual o significado do direito das minorias e analisando a teoria da justiça de Rawls frente ao ordenamento atual de direito (direito geral), verificando a relação desta com o direito das minorias. Para o Direito, precisa-se proteger a minoria da possibilidade de discriminação. A importância, portanto, desse assunto é analisar os princípios jurídicos e os ideais filosóficos da teoria de justiça de John Rawls a fim de esclarecer a relação entre os direitos das maiorias( geral) e o direito das minorias e a aplicação do consenso sobreposto como meio de diminuir as diferenças que o direito quer instituir. / This dissertation relates to analyze the theory of justice of John Rawls and his concepts of veil of ignorance, overlapping consensus, justice as fairness and social contract, understanding the meaning of the rights of minorities and analyzing the theory of justice Rawls against the land current law (general right), verifying its relation to the rights of minorities. To the right, one must protect the minority of the possibility of discrimination. The importance, therefore this issue is to analyze the legal principles and philosophical ideals of John Rawls theory of justice in order to clarify the relationship between the rights of the majority (general) and the rights of minorities and the application of the overlapping consensus as a means to reduce the differences that the right wants to impose.

The degree to which the SABC as public broadcaster gives shape to its language policy and language mandate, against the background of an investigation of language rights, establishes the central problem statement of this research. It is widely acknowledged that it is difficult to define the concept of language rights. 14khough the language-sociological literature associates this concept with minority and cultural rights, it can also be seen as individual rights. According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996,it is clear that language rights should be seen as individual rights that can be exercised within a particular community. Although this dissertation provides an extensive juridical and language sociological explanation of the concept of language rights, the description by Judge Able Sachs will be used as a working definition for this research. His division between the following four fundamental language rights, viz.: (i) the right to use your language; (ii) the right to develop your language; (iii) the right to be understood and to understand other languages as well as (iv) the right not to be discriminated against because of your language, provides a useful investigation instrument with which the degree to which the SABC-TV acknowledges and protects language rights can be measured. It is found that despite the policy documents on national and corporate level that has equal consideration and treatment of the diverse South African languages in mind, it still happens that the SABC-TV fails to give form to the language rights of individuals that belong to indigenous minority language groups in South Africa. Due to this, the research suggests that the extensive implementation of subtitles, as a form of screen translation that differs from lip synchronised dubbing, can make a significant contribution to the acknowledgement and protection of language rights by the SABC-TV. In addition to a discussion on what subtitles entail, the technical nature and specific parameters thereof, a feasibility study is included within which the affordability of this project for the SABC-TV is indicated. It is found that this form of screen translation is ideal for the South African situation because it is cheaper than both lip synchronised dubbing and the creation of new television programmes, but also because it can effectively be employed in regional broadcasts. Furthermore, the use of bilingual subtitles and pivot subtitles are also alternatives that may be considered. It is essential though that subtitles can indeed contribute to the way in which the SABC, as a public broadcaster, acknowledges and protects the fundamental language rights of the multitude of South Africans that belong to different language communities in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

The degree to which the SABC as public broadcaster gives shape to its language policy and language mandate, against the background of an investigation of language rights, establishes the central problem statement of this research. It is widely acknowledged that it is difficult to define the concept of language rights. 14khough the language-sociological literature associates this concept with minority and cultural rights, it can also be seen as individual rights. According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996,it is clear that language rights should be seen as individual rights that can be exercised within a particular community. Although this dissertation provides an extensive juridical and language sociological explanation of the concept of language rights, the description by Judge Able Sachs will be used as a working definition for this research. His division between the following four fundamental language rights, viz.: (i) the right to use your language; (ii) the right to develop your language; (iii) the right to be understood and to understand other languages as well as (iv) the right not to be discriminated against because of your language, provides a useful investigation instrument with which the degree to which the SABC-TV acknowledges and protects language rights can be measured. It is found that despite the policy documents on national and corporate level that has equal consideration and treatment of the diverse South African languages in mind, it still happens that the SABC-TV fails to give form to the language rights of individuals that belong to indigenous minority language groups in South Africa. Due to this, the research suggests that the extensive implementation of subtitles, as a form of screen translation that differs from lip synchronised dubbing, can make a significant contribution to the acknowledgement and protection of language rights by the SABC-TV. In addition to a discussion on what subtitles entail, the technical nature and specific parameters thereof, a feasibility study is included within which the affordability of this project for the SABC-TV is indicated. It is found that this form of screen translation is ideal for the South African situation because it is cheaper than both lip synchronised dubbing and the creation of new television programmes, but also because it can effectively be employed in regional broadcasts. Furthermore, the use of bilingual subtitles and pivot subtitles are also alternatives that may be considered. It is essential though that subtitles can indeed contribute to the way in which the SABC, as a public broadcaster, acknowledges and protects the fundamental language rights of the multitude of South Africans that belong to different language communities in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.