Law and Politics

From 2017 Conferences will deal with issues of minority protection, memory politics and conflict resolution with regard to the minority-majority situation in bilingual Carinthia in comparison with other case studies from all over Europe and with regard to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the "Carinthian plebiscite" after World War One in 1920.

Conferences | Konference

2023: STRENGTHENING ETHNIC GROUP IDENTITY AND ETHNIC GROUP LANGUAGE - NEW CHALLENGES
Europeanization, globalization, migration and integration. Social change not only poses a challenge to majority societies, but also calls into question the traditional identity characteristics of ethnic group members. These include, in particular, their languages and cultural traditions. The associated identity constructions were shaped by nationalism in the late 19th century and influenced by the dislocations of the 20th century. They led to a considerable assimilation of the ethnic groups - politically, socially, culturally. At present, Europeanization and globalization are making the living environments of ethnic groups more diverse as well. Migration causes the influx of new groups from neighboring European countries and the Kin states of the minority groups, but also beyond. At the same time, members of the majority population in Carinthia are increasingly learning Slovenian, people are rediscovering lost roots in the ethnic groups, others are migrating from the traditional settlement areas or identifying themselves multiculturally - within and between the groups. This poses challenges for the legal design of minority protection and language acquisition, which will be examined at the conference on the basis of case studies from Austria and Europe. Experts from social, legal, cultural and political sciences will discuss the development of regional and ethnic identities as well as the legal classification of new diversity in old instruments of minority protection in the national and European context. The question arises as to what is meant by a minority, how minorities can be recorded as the basis of state administration, and how members locate themselves in the groups. It also raises the question of whether and to what extent regionally rooted social conventions contribute to the prestige of a language. Young people and representatives from the ethnic group discuss with experts from academia and politics how the acceptance of demarcation features has changed over time, whether the European integration process has led to the emergence of more minority-friendly frameworks for the respective identities of ethnic group members, and what steps are indicated for the recalibration of ethnic group protection in light of current challenges.

2022: Ethnic Minority Policy – Yesterday's policy or policy for tomorrow?

Minority policy always faces new challenges: The languages of the ethnic groups must be preserved, even in a world of increased mobility, networking, globalization and digitalization. From September 29 to October 1, 2022, a conference will be dedicated to the current situation of the ethnic groups in Austria and beyond, the needs and identities of their members, the political representation of the ethnic groups, bilingual education and the further development of minority rights. The conference aims to reflect on current ethnic group policy - not as a relic of yesterday, but as an instrument for tomorrow's coexistence. Specifically, for example, the results of the OGM study on the current situation of bilingualism and the needs of Slovene speakers in Carinthia, carried out in spring 2022 on behalf of the Federal Chancellery, will be presented.

The complete conference recording in German and Slovenian can be found here.

2021: Minority Rights in Transition

The year 2020 saw some movement in the protection of ethnic groups in Europe: many steps forward, some steps back. To the surprise of many ethnic groups in Europe, this first (!) citizens' initiative in the European Parliament "Minority SafePack - one million signatures for diversity in Europe" achieved a majority of 524 out of 694 votes in December 2020, but only one month later the European Commission rejected the package of measures for lack of competence. In Austria, 45 years after the Ethnic Groups Act came into force, the question is what adjustments are needed to meet the current needs of ethnic groups in a diverse Europe. The government program 2020-2024 aims at some projects in the modernization of the protection of the ethnic groups. How can such a modernization take shape? The conference addressed this question from a regional, national, European and international perspective. It wants to contribute to a current discussion in Austria and Europe and offer a platform to work out solutions for new steps in the national and European protection of ethnic groups in a constructive dialogue. Jürgen Pirker took part in the organization and moderated the kick-off panel on visible bilingualism and language prestige including a discussion among representatives of politics.

2020: The Future of the Slovenes in Carinthia

The ethnic conflict has shaped Carinthia's recent history. The legacy of the past casts its shadow on the coexistence between the majority population and the ethnic group. At the same time, globalization, Europeanization, re-nationalization, migration or the emigration of members of ethnic groups pose new challenges for the protection of cultural diversity. 100 years after the Carinthian referendum, a conference from July, 2nd to July, 4th dealt not (only) with the past, but with the future: It was dedicated to dealing with the past and with old and new diversity, examined successful instruments of language preservation, necessary further developments of ethnic group law and the role of the diaspora in questions of minority protection / for the ethnic group. 

The complete conference recording in German and Slovenian can be found: here.

2019: 100 Years Treaty of Saint Germain - 100 Years of Minority Protection in Austria

In October, a conference on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the State Treaty of Saint Germain in 1919 will dealt with the legacy of this treaty and focused on current challenges in the protection of minorities: How do the 1919 peace treaties fit into the system of international relations that prevailed at the time? What is their legacy for the protection of minorities and how can this be further developed in the 21st century? What what role does Europe - in the form of the European Union or the Council of Europe - play in dealing with ethnic or linguistic minorities?

2018: Borders | Meje 

Borders separate and connect, geographically and mentally. The borders drawn after the First World War separated "peoples" and populations and promoted nationalism, which experienced its most aggressive forms in the 20th century. The European Union has set out as a "peace project" to overcome borders that have recently been closed again in response to the migration and refugee crisis - in real terms and in people's minds. The anniversary of the Carinthian referendum provides an opportunity to deal with the consequences of border demarcations, their overcoming and the potential of border areas from an interdisciplinary perspective within the framework of the conference series 2018 to 2020.

2017: "New" and "old" Minorities | »Stare« in »nove« manjšine

The interdisciplinary conference deals with "New and Old Minorities: Integration, Law and Politics" and specifically deal with the functions of "classical" instruments of minority protection and the challenges caused by migration for the effective minority protection in ever more pluralistic societies.