The Limits of the State: Political Participation and Representation of Roma in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia 23 pages, pdf  Download Back

The Limits of the State: Political Participation and Representation of Roma in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia

Publisher: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe

Volume: 23 pages, pdf

Description:
 
Two models of Roma involvement in politics have emerged after 1989. First, the policy formation model, applicable to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland; and second, the political representation model, as it has developed in Hungary. While the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 has lowered the electoral force of Roma, as the group was split between the two emerging states, the electoral potential especially of the Slovak Roma was not fully utilised. However, when looking at other social movements in the 1990s in the Central and Eastern European space, Roma have been one of the most active in political participation, ranging from local or national elections, referendums, campaigning, membership in political parties, pressure groups or advisory bodies to government, demonstrations, civil disobedience, implementation of policies and community action.