| Popis: |
The authors distinguish in Europe about 200 compact ethnic areas and assess the degree of political tension and risk in each of them using 16 variables characterizing the number of a minority, the geopolitical and the cultural situation in its area, its economic performance, the political status, and the level of political mobilization. They estimate the change in the number and the size of ethnic minorities in their areas in 1910–1993 in Western and Eastern Europe and analyse two hypothetical scenarios supposing disintegration and re-integration of existing states. The conclusion is made that the last act of the European geopolitical drama has yielded the greatest ‘advantage’ for the former minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, but, as calculations show, the nationstate model became a less effective tool to solve ethnic problems, since each new secession engenders the appearance of new minorities. Two types of ethnic areas are identified in Europe, which can be described as the Balkan, or Caucasian, and the West-European, though the last is also characteristic for large East-European countries. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved |
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