CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Ferkovics, Roland |
|---|---|
| Title | POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND PATTERNS OF INEQUALITY OF THE ROMA MINORITY IN HUNGARY WHY POLITICAL REPRESENTATION RIGHTS FAILED TO PROVIDE POLITICAL EQUALITY? |
| Summary | Even though special representation rights are provided for minorities, Roma political representation has not been fully realized over the last two decades in Hungary. The aim of this thesis is to provide insights into the issue of political representation of Roma minority on the national level. I compare the changing legal framework ensuring rights and options for Roma political representation. I pay special attention to normative and institutional arrangements being responsible for realizing minority representation. I focus on such controversial issues as the missing normative guidance of the first minority law, the lack of effective political institutions, and the unachievable electoral threshold for minority parties. Regarding the second law, I hypothesize that the newly introduced arrangements contribute to the lack of Roma political representation. Relying on secondary sources and expert interviews, I argue that normative guiding regulations were not provided facilitating Roma representation, instead, powerless institutions, lacking political impact and licenses, have been in charge of minority representation. Further problems can be found in the Hungarian electoral system that is not favoring Roma parties, the ideological diversification among Roma people, and the lack of longstanding legitimacy of Roma parties. For the current legal framework, the biggest dilemma is making Roma representation dependent on the preferences of the ruling party coupled with ineffective political institutions. Last but not least, I provide recommendations for how the question of Roma representation could be resolved. |
| Supervisor | Professor Dr.Dimitrijevic Nenad and Professor Dr. Sata Robert |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/ferkovics_roland.pdf |
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