DANISH-GERMAN BORDER REGION IN HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
The fact that the ECMI is located in the Danish-German border region is not a result of a coincidence. The rationale behind the founders’ decision was rooted primarily in two aspects. First, the creation of a successful minority rights protection model and the achievement of peaceful and mutually beneficial minority-majority relations in a region characterized by a difficult history. Second, the richness of minority life on both sides of the border finding its expression in, among others, cultural activities, educational institutions, media outlets, active political parties, and involvement in cross-border initiatives.
This multi-faceted reality creates a natural ground for research activities intending to interpret it, identify current trends and analyse them in a comparative perspective, but also to revisit historical events by examining them through new methodological tools and in a long-term dimension.
Due to the ECMI’s involvement in different minority contexts across Europe, this research track gains additional importance in a practical sense: nuanced and up to date understanding of the Danish-German model of minority rights protection, creates potential for action-oriented projects and increased transferability of its certain aspects to other socio-political contexts.
Importantly, our regional focus is also strongly visible in other topical areas covered by the Cluster, such as Minority Communities and Local / Regional Development and Minority Language Media.
Expert opinions
- In 2019 Sergiusz Bober provided an expert contribution to the Danish-German joint application concerning listing of the Danish-German minority rights protection model on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (full title of the application: “Danish-German minority model: a framework for living together in peace in a culturally diverse region”).
Events
- International scientific conference Minorities and Self-determination – 100th anniversary of the Post-World War I Plebiscites, 3-4 June 2021, Flensburg (Germany). Co-organized by ECMI (Sergiusz Bober, Craig Willis) and the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig (DCBIB).
- PSA Annual International Conference - Resilience, Expertise, Hope, Queen's University (Belfast, United Kingdom) / online, 29-31 March 2021
Sergiusz Bober presented “Does ethnic kinship matter in electoral politics? The evidence from four European examples.”
Programme
- IPSA Virtual Colloquium: Disruption, Crisis, Opportunity: Whither Democratic Governance?, 14-15 December 2020
Sergiusz Bober participated as a discussant during the panel “Representation and Mobilization of Cross-Border Nations: The Party Politics of Ethnic Kinship”
Programme
- Nationalism in a Transnational Age - A Workshop, Nord Universitet (Bodø, Norway), 25-26 November 2019
Sergiusz Bober presented “National minorities and the rise of nationalism. A comparative analysis of the cases of Danish minority in Germany and German minority in Poland”
Programme
