Common and differing impacts of the European framework for the protection of national minorities with special consideration of Sweden and Poland

Abstract

This study focuses on the similarities and differences in the ways in which the 27 European Union member states have approached these European level expectations and obligations. It finds that the continuing influence of particular national identities and nationalist aspirations in policy-making creates reluctance to adopt some minority protection measures and peculiarities in how states interpret the obligations. Evidence from the case studies of Poland and Sweden suggests that despite international obligations to grant additional protections to national minority groups, states simultaneously take measures to protect and preserve the dominant culture as well as promote the dominant ethnic identity, language, and culture. This rise in nationalist thinking might be especially true about countries that have experienced a sudden influx of immigrants in recent decades, such as Sweden, Spain, Germany or the Netherlands. This dissertation extends neoinstitutional theory by considering the effectiveness of the implementation of treaties and legislation as well as their formal adoption. It finds that along with a degree of institutional homogenization, there is a significant variation in both the interpretation of these international obligations and in national policy.