The Fate of Ethnic Democracy in Post-Communist Europe Local Government EUROPEAN CENTRE and Public Service FOR Reform Initiative MINORITY ISSUES THE FATE OF ETHNIC DEMOCRACY IN POST-COMMUNIST EUROPE LGI Books Edited by SAMMY SMOOHA AND PRIIT JÄRVE First edition published by Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Open Society Institute Nádor utca 11 H–1051 Budapest, Hungary Telephone: (+36 1) 327 3104 Fax: (+36 1) 327 3105 http://lgi.osi.hu Design & Production by Judit Kovács/Createch Ltd. © ECMI, 2005. ECMI retains the copyright of all materials, including all publishing and subsidiary rights. OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE TM and Copyright © 2005 Open Society Institute All rights reserved. The views expressed by the contributors to this book do not reflect the views of either LGI, ECMI or the editors of the book, but are the sole responsibility of the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or translated, in any form or by any means, without the permission of the Publisher. ISBN: 963 9419 74 9 ISSN: 1586-1317 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available upon request. Cover photo: © Getty Images – Illustration Works – Gwilym Johnston Cover design: Tom Bass and Judit Kovács Copy editor: John Kowalzyk Printed in Hungary by Createch Ltd., March 2005 Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI), as one of the programs of the Open Society Institute (OSI), is an international development and grant-giving organization dedicated to the support of good governance in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). LGI seeks to fulfill its mission through the initiation of research and support of development and operational activities in the fields of decentralization, public policy formation and the reform of public administration. With projects running in countries covering the region between the Czech Republic and Mongolia, LGI seeks to achieve its objectives through: • development of sustainable regional networks of institutions and professionals engaged in policy analysis, reform-oriented training and advocacy; • support and dissemination of in-depth comparative and regionally applicable policy studies tackling local government issues; • support of country-specific projects and delivery of technical assistance to the implementation agencies; • assistance to Soros foundations with the development of local government, public administration and/or public policy programs in their countries of the region; • publication of books and studies dealing with the issues of decentralization, public administration, good governance, public policy and lessons learned from the process of transition in these areas; • development of curricula and organization of training programs dealing with specific local government issues; • support of policy centers and think tanks in the region. Apart from its own projects, LGI works closely with a number of other international organizations (Council of Europe, Department for International Development, USAID, UNDP and the World Bank) and co-funds larger regional initiatives aimed at the support of reforms on the subnational level. The Local Government Information Network (LOGIN) and the Fiscal Decentralization Initiative (FDI) are two main examples of this cooperation. For additional information or specific publications, please contact: Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative P.O. Box 519 H–1397 Budapest, Hungary E-mail: [email protected] • http://lgi.osi.hu Telephone: (+36 1) 327 3104 • Fax: (+36 1) 327 3105 vii Introduction to the Series The Fate of Ethnic Democracy in Post-Communist Europe is the third volume in the ECMI/LGI Series on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues. The Series is a joint venture of the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI). ECMI conducts practice-oriented research, provides information and docu- mentation, and offers advisory services concerning minority–majority relations in Europe; in addition, it engages in constructive conflict management through its action-oriented projects, particularly in the Balkans and the Baltic states. LGI, a programme of the Open Society Institute, is a think tank specializing in improving governance practices and the provision of public services, especially at the local level. The ECMI/LGI Series aims to provide a highly visible and accessible platform for ECMI’s cutting-edge studies. These multi-author works are the result of the Centre’s coop- erative research projects, often lasting a number of years. While these projects were at times supported by conferences and seminars, the resulting books attempt to present a coherent and comprehensive picture of the area under investigation. In this way, the Series avoids the pitfalls of conference publications that often lack a clear focus and structure. The Series also enables both ECMI and LGI to strengthen the link between their proactive work across Europe and the development of scholarly work that is geared towards influencing policy decisions. Through these studies, ECMI and LGI will raise awareness of crosscutting issues related to majority-minority relations and will analyze new issues and practices as they arise. In this way, the Series will advance the practical understanding of new challenges concerning minority issues while at the same time adding a dimension of theoreti- cally based understanding. The majority of countries in the former Eastern bloc, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe, feature multiethnic societies. Decentralization and the transition to a free market environment have made this characteristic of nation-states more visible and have raised the claim for a proactive approach toward multiethnic community management. The first step for countries that plan to solve ethnic conflicts in a peaceful way is to draft legisla- tion on individual and collective minority rights. The second step is to implement these rules and manage the public sector in accordance with the accepted principles. As there is a lack of relevant literature and research in this field, the ECMI/LGI Series intends to fill the gap by providing information and ‘food for thought’ for public officials and relevant professionals as well as practitioners. It is hoped that the ECMI/LGI publishing partnership will result in a significant addition to the study and practice of emerging policy issues related to minorities. Marc Weller Petra Kovács European Centre for Minority Issues Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative viii Also available in the Series Vol. 1 Kinga Gál (ed.) Minority Governance in Europe (2002) Vol. 2 Farimah Daftary and François Grin (eds.) Nation-Building, Ethnicity and Language Politics in Transition Countries (2003) ix Contents List of Contributors xi List of Tables and Figures xiii Foreword xv Introduction Priit Järve 1 Sammy Smooha The Model of Ethnic Democracy 5 Priit Järve Re-Independent Estonia 61 Svetlana Diatchkova Ethnic Democracy in Latvia 81 Natalie Sabanadze Georgia’s Ethnic Democracy: Source of Instability 115 Graham Holliday From Ethnic Privileging to Power-Sharing: Ethnic Dominance and Democracy in Macedonia 139 Florian Bieber Serbia in the 1990s: The Case of an Ethnic Semi-Democracy 167 Robert Curis A Model in the Making: The Case of Kosovo 191 Valery Perry Ethnic Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Containing the Spectre? 209 Conclusion Sammy Smooha The Non-Emergence of a Viable Ethnic Democracy in Post-Communist Europe 241 Index 259 xi List of Contributors Florian Bieber is a Senior Non-Resident Research Associate of the European Centre for Minority Issues, based in Belgrade, and a recurrent Visiting Professor at the Central European University, Budapest. He furthermore teaches at the Regional Masters Program for Democracy and Human Rights in Sarajevo. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Vienna. He has published articles on national- ism and politics in south-eastern Europe and has edited a variety of works on similar topics, including Montenegro in Transition: Problems of Identity and Statehood (Baden- Baden: Nomos, 2003); (with Džemal Sokolović) Reconstructing Multiethnic Societies: The Case of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001); and (with Židas Daskalovski) Understanding the War in Kosovo (London: Frank Cass, 2003). Robert Curis received his Master of Science of Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University in Washington DC in 2000. With his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1989, he was in the first undergraduate class to complete the ‘Concentration’ in Peace Studies. He is currently Kosovo Representative for the European Centre for Minority Issues and previously worked as Senior Analyst with the International Crisis Group (2001). He worked for three years (1992–95) in Albania as a US Peace Corps volunteer and project consultant. Svetlana Diatchkova is a Researcher at the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies. She received her M.A. in Sociology at the University of Latvia with a speciali- zation in language sociology. Her research interests include various aspects of minority issues in Latvia, such as social integration policy, language policy, minority protection and the ethnic dimension of civic participation. Graham Holliday is Research Associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues.