Old and New Minorities: Reconciling Diversity and Cohesion: A Human Rights Model for Minority Integration

Questions concerning whether and how the rights of minorities should be recognized in politics, and how to maintain and strengthen the bonds of community in ethnically diverse societies, are among the most salient and vexing on the political agenda of many societies. The growing diversity of nationa [...]
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Questions concerning whether and how the rights of minorities should be recognized in politics, and how to maintain and strengthen the bonds of community in ethnically diverse societies, are among the most salient and vexing on the political agenda of many societies. The growing diversity of national communities has generated pressures for new and more defensible forms of accommodating social cohesion and diversity. Although societies need to develop appropriate models of integration suited to their history, traditions, demographic composition, political requirements, and so on, their decisions should be guided by two general principles, namely respect for diversity and fostering a sense of common belonging and unity. This book states that it is possible to develop a defensible model for minority integration that reconciles unity and diversity. Studying the interaction between "old" and "new" minority groups and how they complement each other is a rather new task. So far these topics have been studied in isolation from each other. It is also an important task for future research in Europe where many states have established systems of "old" minority rights, but have not yet developed sound policies for the integration of "new" minority groups originating from recent migration. Old and New Minorities: Reconciling Diversity and Cohesion is a valuable resource for academics, scholars, students, and practitioners working on international human rights law, and the law and policy surrounding minorities, migrants, refugees, and all categories of non-citizens.