Ethnic democracy

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Ethnic democracy is a political system that combines a structured ethnic dominance with democratic, political and civil rights for all. Both the dominant ethnic group and the minority ethnic group have citizenship and are able to fully participate in the political process. Ethnic democracy differs from ethnocracy in being more truly democratic. It provides the non-core groups with more political participation, influence and improvement of status than ethnocracy supposedly does. Nor is an ethnic democracy a Herrenvolk democracy which is by definition a democracy officially limited to the core ethnic nation only.^[1]

The term "ethnic democracy" was introduced by University of Haifa sociologist Sammy Smooha.

Contents 1 Japan 2 United Kingdom 3 Denmark 4 Jordan 5 Greece 6 Turkey 7 Wales 8 Quebec 9 Poland 10 Malaysia 11 Sri Lanka 12 Slovakia 13 Latvia and Estonia 14 References

[edit] Japan

Japan is an ethnic democracy managed for the benefit of the Japanese ethnicity to the great disadvantage of the Aboriginal Ainu people.

In its effort to maintain ethnic purity, the Japanese state has imposed some of the world's most draconian immigration restrictions. The Shinto religion receives strong official support. ^[2]

[edit] United Kingdom

The Head of State of the United Kingdom is required to be a member of the Church of England, and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have seats in the legislature.

[edit] Denmark

The Evangelical Lutheran Church is subsidized by the government as the official state religion. The faith is taught in public schools, although students may withdraw from religious classes with parental consent.^[3] Denmark introduced what it has described as one of Europe’s strictest immigration laws in May 2002. The law was influenced by the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party; since elections in November 2001, the Liberal-Conservative government has relied on the support of that party for a parliamentary majority. The immigration law restricts the ability of a Dane to bring a foreign spouse into the country, as it requires both partners to be aged 24 or older. The law also requires the Dane to pass a solvency test to prove that he or she has not drawn social security for at least a year and to post a bond of almost $10,000. A reunified family’s husband and wife must both prove “close ties to Denmark.” Many Copenhagen-based Danes with foreign spouses have consequently chosen to live in the nearby southern Swedish city of Malmoe and commute back to Copenhagen for work. The law primarily affects Denmark’s Muslim immigrant community, which has increasingly complained of social and economic discrimination and burgeoning anti-immigrant sentiment in the country. In 2006, strict review procedures were implemented for Chinese nationals seeking to enter Denmark on business visas after widespread misuse was revealed. .^[4]

[edit] Jordan

Jordan is an ethnic democracy managed for the benefit of the Sunni Arab majority. Islam is the state religion. This disadvantages the Druze and Christian minorities. "Public schools provide mandatory religious instruction for all Muslim students." ^[5] The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Trusts manages Islamic institutions and the construction of mosques. It also appoints imams, provides mosque staff salaries, manages Islamic clergy training centers, and subsidizes certain activities sponsored by mosques.^[5]

Sharia is applied in all matters relating to family law involving Muslims or the children of a Muslim father, and all citizens, including non-Muslims, are subject to Islamic legal provisions regarding inheritance. According to the law, all minor children of male citizens who convert to Islam are considered to be Muslim. Adult children of a male Christian who has converted to Islam become ineligible to inherit from their father if they do not also convert to Islam. In cases in which a Muslim converts to Christianity the conversion is not recognized legally by the authorities, and the individual continues to be treated as a Muslim in matters of family and property law.^[5]

In 2002, the Sharia and civil court systems adjudicated a dispute concerning custody of two minors, raised as Christians, whose father allegedly converted to Islam shortly before his death. The widow contended that her husband's signature on the conversion certificate was a forgery. The courts assigned legal custody to the Christian widow's brother, who is a convert to Islam. However, the children remained in the mother's physical custody pending the result of a counter suit she filed against her brother, alleging disinterest in the children and misuse of the children's trust funds. In April 2005, a court ruled in the mother's favor and assigned her legal custody of the children. In May 2005, the widow's brother appealed against the ruling, but an appellate court rejected the petition.^[5]

Some Christians are unable to divorce under the legal system because they are subject to their denomination's religious court system, which does not allow divorce. Such individuals sometimes convert to another Christian denomination or to the Islamic faith to divorce legally.^[5]

Druzes, Baha'is, and members of other unrecognized religious groups do not have their religious affiliations correctly noted on their national identity cards or "family books" (the family book is a national registration record that is issued to the head of every family and that serves as proof of citizenship). Atheists must associate themselves with a recognized religion for purposes of official identification.^[5]

The Government traditionally reserves some positions in the upper levels of the military for Christians (4 percent); however, all senior command positions have been held by Muslims. Division-level commanders and above are required to lead Islamic prayer on certain occasions. There is no Christian clergy in the military.^[5]

[edit] Greece

In the Greek ethnic democracy priests for the Greek Orthodox Church teach the Greek religion in all public schools. Immigration laws enshrine the privileged status of Greek nationality, by assuring Greek citizenship to all ethnic Greeks and their descendants. ^[6]

[edit] Turkey

Law of Nationality According to the Greek Nationality Code of 1955 P. G. Vallindas Review author[s]: Phaedon J. Kozyris The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 6, No. 4. (Autumn, 1957), pp. 600-602. Turkey's foundation as an ethnic democracy entailed expelling an estimated million and a half Greeks, descended of Greek Anatolian residents since antiquity, and the genocide of the Armenian community resident on Armenian land wince antiquity. It left millions of Kurds inside Turkey. the Turkish government has responded by relabeling them as "mountain Turks," and by forbidding publishing ro broadcasting in Kurdish, a ban that has now been repealed. Turkish represion and forced assimilation of the Kurds has given rise to a national liberation movement. Turkey with its outright rejection of the large Kurdish population is an ethnic democracy.[www.ecmi.de/download/working_paper_13.pdf]

[edit] Wales

The Welsh nationalist movement acquired political autonomy in 1997. The Welsh Language Act privileges Wales's majority of Welsh-speakers.^{[dubious – discuss]}

[edit] Quebec

Quebec is an ethnic democracy dedicated to promoting Québécois language and culture.

[edit] Poland

[www.ecmi.de/download/working_paper_13.pdf]

[edit] Malaysia

Since the early 1970s Malaysia has become an ethnic democracy, although democratic institutions are weak. The system was reconstituted in the 1970s as an ethnic democracy. Since the shift in regime, the state has been identified with the Malay majority. It institutionalizes Malay dominance, Islam as a state religion and Malay as a state language. Immigration policy is designed to preserve a Malay majority. State preferential treatment of Malays in admission to the universities and state civil service and in certain economic ventures is instituted as a common policy. Restrictions are imposed on land acquisitions by non-Malays.[www.ecmi.de/download/working_paper_13.pdf]

Ethnic Chinese make up one-quarter of the population of Malaysia, ethnic Indians area smaller group. Ethnic Malays and small indigenous peoples, known as bumiputras (sons of the soil) have privileged access to education and government jobs. In addition, the government regularly destroys Hindu temples built decades ago for Indian plantation laborers.^[7]

[edit] Sri Lanka

The majority in Sri Lanka are Buddhist. Sri Lankan constitution refers to it as a Buddhist state and the responsibility of the head of state to promote and protect Buddhism.

[edit] Slovakia

Slovak nationalism is grounded in ethnicity and language. "State-building and nation-building in Slovakia are designed to install ethnic Slovaks as the sole nation and to prevent any sign of binationalism. This objective is made clear in the preamble of the Slovak constitution which begins with the following words: “We, the Slovak nation, bearing in mind the political and cultural heritage of our predecessors, the experience gained through centuries of struggle for our national existence and statehood…”[www.ecmi.de/download/working_paper_13.pdf]

[edit] Latvia and Estonia

There is a spectrum of opinion among authors as to the classification of Latvia and Estonia, spanning from Civic Democracy^[8] to Ethnic Democracy.^[9] A minority of analysts^[who?] argue that classification should primarily be made on the basis of citizenship laws of these countries that granted automatic citizenship to people holding citizenship of Estonia or Latvia in June 1940 and their direct descendants, while descendants of the people who migrated into these countries after the 1940 Soviet invasion could only gain citizenship through a naturalisation process that includes tests on local language and constitution, as well as long-time residency requirements.^{[citation needed]} Most, however, point out that these countries' citizenship laws are not based on ethnicity, obtaining citizenship is not closed to those who choose to obtain it, and thus conclude they more closely fit the model of a civic democracy.

As of 2008, more than 16% of Latvia's residents (approximately half of Russophones), as well as 9%^{[citation needed]} of Estonia's residents lack foreign or domestic citizenship. (The largest minorities with foreign citizenship are those of Russian Federation in both cases.) The large (nearly 35% in Latvia and 25% in Estonia) Russophone minority was, and continues to be, under-represented in the national parliaments. The OSCE mission in Latvia monitoring the parliamentary elections mentioned that:

“

Approximately 400,000 people in Latvia, some 18 per cent of the total population, have not obtained Latvian or any other citizenship and therefore still have the status of “non-citizens.” In the vast majority, these are persons who migrated to Latvia from within the former Soviet Union, and their descendants. Non-citizens do not have the right to vote in any Latvian elections, although they can join political parties. To obtain citizenship, these persons must go through a naturalization process, which over 50,000 persons have done since the 2002 Saeima election. The fact that a significant percentage of the adult population does not enjoy voting rights represents a continuing democracy deficit.[10]

”

The collapse of the Soviet Union, end of its planned economy and the following pressure of profitability saw closure of many union-level enterprises, leading to mass layoffs. Since a majority of these enterprises' employees had been specifically imported in the occupation times, these layoffs led to a sharp rise in unemployment among the Russian-speaking minorities; this disparity continues to this day (e.g. minorities in Estonia in 2006 had 12.9% vs 5.3% unemployment rate for the ethnic Estonians^[11]). Significantly, some Estonian researchers^[12] conclude that this can not be attributed to any discriminatory policies, but is an effect of several different economic and social factors^[11][13].

The notion that Estonia or Latvia are ethnic democracies has been rejected by some commentators. On the one hand, the citizenship laws of these countries are not based on ethnic criteria, treating citizens of Russian extract, including a number of people who automatically became citizens because their families have resided there since before 1940, with the same rights as the ethnic majorities^[13][12]. Moreover, non-citizens enjoy social rights on a par with citizens^[14]. On the other hand, given the vast presence of minorities without political rights, Estonia and Latvia may not yet even qualify as ethnic democracies: in Smooha's definition of ethnic democracy, minority groups should enjoy full rights as citizens of the country^[15]. However, given the steady growth of naturalisation and fairly relaxed inter-ethnic relations, Estonia and Latvia may indeed turn into civic democracies in the years to come.

A usual defence of the current restrictions is that there is a need to counter the effects of the post-WWII influx of Russophone population, caused by the occupation of Baltic states. A separate argument is that non-citizens are being encouraged to go through naturalisation procedures, but without the pressure of assimilation or acculturation. For example, the Republic of Estonia reimburses 100% of money spent on language lessons upon passing the naturalisation language test. At the same time, considerable funds are allocated to integration programs such as lessons of local languages for the non-native people^[16].

A recent resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in November 2006 conclude, with regards to Latvia, that the basic language requirements for the naturalization are not an obstacle to gaining citizenship:

“

The Assembly considers that the naturalisation regulations adopted in Latvia do not raise insuperable obstacles to the acquisition of Latvian nationality and that the applicable procedure does not entail any requirements that are excessive or contrary to existing European standards. However, when it comes to the very specific situation of non-citizens, which is unprecedented and therefore lacks a reference framework of European norms or practices, the Assembly considers that further improvements are possible to avoid unnecessary requirements for the acquisition of Latvian nationality. [17]

”

[edit] References