Who Speaks for Roma?: Political Representation of a Transnational Minority Community

217 Pages·2010·1.51 MB·English

by  Aidan McGarry

Who Speaks for Roma?
This page intentionally left blank
Who Speaks for Roma?
Political Representation of a Transnational
Minority Community
Aidan McGarry
2010
Th e Continuum International Publishing Group Inc
80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
Th e Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
Th e Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
www.continuumbooks.com
Copyright © 2010 by Aidan McGarry
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-8264-2880-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGarry, Aidan.
Who speaks for Roma? : political representation of a transnational minority community /
by Aidan McGarry.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-2880-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8264-2880-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Romanies–Europe, Eastern–Social conditions. 2. Romanies–Europe,
Eastern–Politics and government. 3. Romanies–Europe, Eastern–Ethnic identity.
4. Political participation–Europe, Eastern. 5. Europe, Eastern–Ethnic relations.
6. Europe, Eastern–Politics and government. I. Title.
DX210.M34 2010
323.1191ʹ49704–dc22
2009051367
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed in the United States of America
For Rowan
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Figures and Tables x
Acknowledgements xi
List of Acronyms xii
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF ROMA IN EUROPE 7
A Passage from India 7
Arrival in Europe 10
Roma and Travellers 12
Persecution and Romanticism 15
O Baro Porrajmos: Th e Holocaust 20
Roma under Communism 24
Post-communism: Romani Awakening 28
CHAPTER 2 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND
REPRESENTATION OF ROMA 33
Objectives, Assumptions and Rationale 35
Th eoretical Basis 36
Methodological Approach 38
Mobilization, Political Participation and Representation 41
Minorities, the Democratic State and International Law 47
Th e Roma Social Movement 49
Determining Legitimacy 52
CHAPTER 3 AMBIVALENT DISCOURSE: RIGHTS-BASED
THEORIES ON MINORITIES 59
Introduction 59
Rights-based Approaches to Minority Issues 59
vii
viii CONTENTS
Minority Rights: Analytical and Cultural Presuppositives 61
A Rights versus Justice Conception of Minority Protection 63
Citizenship Rights and Roma 66
Political Rights and the Pursuit of Representation 70
Representing People and Representing Interests 72
Rights versus Interests 75
Key Concepts 79
CHAPTER 4 WHO SPEAKS FOR ROMA? ORGANIZING
STRUCTURES OF REPRESENTATION
IN ROMANIA 83
Introduction 83
Interests of Roma in Romania 84
Élite Representation of Roma 89
Monopolizing Roma Representation 93

Localized Legitimacy through Civil Society 97
Conclusion 101
Ethnic Mobilization 101
Political Participation 102
Interest Articulation 103
Legitimate Representation 104
Hypotheses 105
CHAPTER 5 SELF-GOVERNMENT AND INTEREST
REPRESENTATION IN HUNGARY: A WRONG
STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? 109
Introduction 109
Shared Interests of Roma in Hungary 110
Th e Minority Self-Government System: Political Participation
in a Cultural Institution 114
Th e Needle in the Haystack: Élite Romani Representatives 118
Th e Absence of Ethnopolitics: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie 120
Plugging the Hole: Romani Civil Society Organizations 122
Conclusion 125
Ethnic Mobilization 125
Political Participation 126
Interest Articulation 127
Legitimate Representation 128
Hypotheses 129
Hungary and Romania Compared 130
Contents ix
CHAPTER 6 ROMA REPRESENTATION IN THE
TRANSNATIONAL POLITICAL CONTEXT 136
Introduction 136
A European Minority 137
Th e Transnational Roma Social Movement 140
Transnational Roma Interests 142
International Romani Union (IRU) 143
Roma National Congress (RNC) 143
European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) 145
Open Society Institute-Roma Participation Programme
(OSI-RPP) 145
European Roma and Traveller Forum (ERTF) 146
Notes on Legitimacy of Transnational Organizing Structures of
Representation 147
Th e European Union’s Policy on Roma 148
European Roma Information Offi ce (ERIO) 152
Conclusion 157
Ethnic Mobilization 157
Political Participation 158
Interest Articulation 158
Legitimate Representation 159
CONCLUSION 163
Assessing the Hypotheses 165
H1: Political decentralization increases the legitimacy of Roma
representation 165
H2: Due to inadequate organizing structures of representation
in the domestic political context, transnational Romani
activity increases 168
Contested Ethnic Group Identity and Shared Interests 170
Glossary 176
References 178
Index 195