Whose Democracy?: Nationalism, Religion, and the Doctrine of Collective Rights in Post-1989 Eastern EuropeRowman & Littlefield, 1997 - 233 pages The years since the collapse of communism in 1989 have witnessed a dangerous renewal of religious intolerance and nationalist demands across Eastern Europe. In this provocative application of moral philosophy to the analysis of contemporary political processes in the region, Sabrina Ramet draws upon the literature of Natural Law to demonstrate that liberal democracy depends on a delicate balance between individual and societal rights. Exploring the situation of Hungarians in Slovakia, Albanians in Kosovo, theoretically-inclined Catholic bishops in Poland, Serbs in Croatia, and contending forces in post-Dayton Bosnia, Ramet contends that the terms of dispute in these cases can be deceptive. She illustrates that claims made on the basis of what she calls the doctrine of collective rights actually subvert the liberal democratic project. |
Contents
Back to the Future in Eastern Europe | 17 |
Eastern Europes Painful Transition | 39 |
The New Ethnarchy and Theories of Rights | 59 |
Theocratic Impulses in Poland | 97 |
The Struggle for Collective Rights in Slovakia | 111 |
The Albanians of Kosovo | 139 |
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Common terms and phrases
Albanians appeal April August authorities autonomy Balkan BBC Monitoring BBC Monitoring Service BBC Summary Belgrade Bosnia Bratislava Budapest Bulgaria Catholic Church citizens claims collective rights communist constitution Croatia Croats cultural Czech Republic Czechoslovakia Daily Report East December democracy Democratic doctrine of collective draft East European Eastern Europe economic elections ethnic Hungarian FBIS February federal Gazeta Wyborcza Havel Human Rights Hungary Ibid independent interwar January July June Kosova Daily Report Kosovo language legitimate liberal Macedonia March Mečiar Milošević minority Muslims nationalist Neue Zürcher Zeitung Nexis November October parliament parties percent of Slovaks Poland Polish News Bulletin political politicians poll population Prague president Priština Quoted Radio Ramet region religious Report East Europe Romania Sabrina schools Sejm September 1995 Serbian Serbs Slovak National Slovenia social societal rights society Süddeutsche Zeitung television Tiranë trans Transylvania Tudjman Turks Universal Reason University Press Warsaw Yugoslav Yugoslavia Zagreb
Popular passages
Page 11 - It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.
Page 11 - By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
Page 11 - It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this evil : the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority, that is, of the society...
Page 11 - There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction : the one, by removing its causes ; the other, by controlling its effects. There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction : the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence ; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.
Page 16 - It is of the utmost importance that people should be organized because only so do they become mighty and powerful. Otherwise, they are nothing but a heap, an aggregate of atomic units. Only when the particular associations are organized members of the state are they possessed of legitimate power.