ECMI Research Clusters

Honoured guests are today in the historic building of the ECMI headquarters: Among others, Alex Koenig (EURAC/Italy), Prof. Eric Heinze (Queen Mary London/ UK), Prof. Paul Iganski (University of Lancaster/UK), Dr. Mariangela Veikou (Tilburg University/ The Netherlands), Prof. Eugenia Siapera (University College Dublin/ Ireland), PD Mag. Dr. Matthias Kettermann (Hans Bredow Institut Hamburg/Germany) , Dr. Gitte Stald (IT University of Copenhagen /Denmark), Dr. Joke Hermes (University of Amsterdam /The Netherlands) and Gwyn Nissen (editor in chief of the German Minority Newspaper in Denmark: Nordschleswiger). Today and tomorrow the experts will elaborate on Minorities and Digitalization: Minority Languages and Digital Media, Hate Speech, Freedom of Expression and Digital Media, Minority Media and Digitalization, Big data and Mi

Sharing spaces in diverse societies and creating fair policies to manage diversity is not always a smooth process, and significant presence of the minorities more often than not leads to some form of insecurity. A notion that minorities pose a threat to the society and social order is used as an excuse by the governments to turn against them, often employing different forms of violence.

We proudly present the newest ECMI project. The aim of the project is to support minority youth as a vulnerable group in Moldova by improving their prospects for their future by fostering their civic engagement as an inevitable part of their own economic and social progress.

Read the first ECMI Minorities Blogpost on Hate Speach regulation, written by ECMI Senior Researcher Dr. Topidi.

Under the title: “Insecurity from below: Minorities, Security and Securitisation of Group Relations” the ECMI has invited renowned experts from various fields of Minorities and Security. On the 6th and 7th of November, they will share their understanding of the most important security issues for minorities in Europe.

This research comes at a timely moment, with representatives of the Federal Union of European Nationalities currently visiting EU member state governments and parliaments to lobby for support for the MSPI. The latest publication in the ECMI Working Paper series analyses the broader goals of the Minority SafePack Initiative (MSPI) and considers whether a form of universal basic income (UBI) could be a tool to enhance the situation of national minorities within the European Union.

In eight pages, the author of the issue brief, Dr. Zora Popova explains the concept of national minority capital and defines it against the background of minority and social capital studies.

The project “Diversity Management for sustainable economic Development” (DMD) has been accompanying the ECMI throughout 2019. The Highlight of the pioneering initiative has been the closing workshop last week (October 17th) in Kyiv.

Anlässlich des 100. Jahrestages der deutsch-dänischen Grenze veranstaltet die Stiftung Schackenborg gemeinsam mit dem Europäischen Zentrum für Minderheitenforschung in Flensburg (ECMI) und der dänischen Gesellschaft für Außenpolitik in Kopenhagen (Det Udenrigspolitiske Selskab, DUS) eine Vortragsreihe unter dem Titel ”Krieg und Frieden – 100 Jahre neue Grenzen in Europa” auf Schloss Schackenborg.

After presenting a paper on illiberal democracy and its determinants in the Balkans at the “Conflict. Stability. Democracy?” conference in Belgrade last month, Marika will again travel to Belgrade this week. This time, she will participate in the Belgrade Security Forum.

It is with great pleasure that we can announce the publication of two working papers on Hate Speech this week. Both are written by the ECMI Senior Researcher Dr. Kyriaki Topidi.

One of the highlights was the opening lecture of Vello Pettai (current Professor of Comparative Politics at the University Tartu, Estonia and from March 2020 the new director at the ECMI). His presentation on ethnicity, nationalism and ethnopolitics was supplemented by a keynote lecture of the renowned Jan Rovny (CEE and LIEPP, Sciences Po) on ethnicity and political competition.

Only 2 days left until the 9th Annual Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions will start in Berlin (01.09.19- 08.09.19).

By examining the feasibility of extending the scope of the protections already in place for national minorities to other categories of population such as new minorities, the publication’s focus is highly topical.

From her experience as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe´s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Prof. Malloy will introduce a catalogue of the most important rights for minorities.

Last week, ECMI Senior Research Associate Dr. Sergiusz Bober presented a paper co-authored with ECMI Project Assistant Aziz Berdiqulov on the recognition/non-recognition/misrecognition of ethnic communities in Central Asia and Europe, during the 16th European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) Conference titled “The Globality of Central Asia” organized at the University of Exeter, UK.