| Annual Newsletter of the Slavic Research Center,
Hokkaido University |
 SRC Home |
|
 |
No.12
, December 2004 |
back to INDEX>> |
Essays
| INOUE Koichi |
Victor Shnirelman |
Paul Werth |
The Slavic Research Center organized the International conference, entitled "The Status Law Syndrome: Post-Communist Nation-Building or Post-Modern Citizenship?" in Budapest on 14-16, October 2004, involving the three co-organizers in Hungary — Institute of Legal Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Minority Studies Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Teleki László Institute — and the 21st Century COE Program, Making a Discipline of Slavic Eurasian Studies.
The international conference was prepared, firstly, by one of the research projects of the SRC, "Local Society Formation in Eastern Europe and the Enlarging EU," and, secondly, by the international cooperation for publishing the book entitled "The Hungarian Status Law: Nation Building and/or Minority Protection," Ebetween the SRC and the three Hungarian research institutes. The book itself, having been published as the fourth volume of the series Slavic Eurasian Studies of the COE Program, and available now for anyone to read on the website of the SRC <http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish-e.html>, was an eventual pre-conference of the international conference, since the majority of the volume's contributors — the book, otherwise, consists of 19 articles, chronology, almost 30 important documents, bibliography, and index — were, at the same time, the main part of the participants of the conference.
The Budapest conference invited a total of 24 speakers, scholars and specialists from various regions of the world: Europe, North America and South and East Asia, altogether 12 countries, Austria, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including those participants who involved themselves in the conference via the open policy of a call for papers for the conference. This policy worked successfully, resulting in imaginative and fresh ideas suggested by the young voluntary scholars. In addition, the conference served for the first time as a comprehensive international academic occasion specializing in the status law syndrome, and every participant was inspired by some new ideas and perspectives through the discussions in the conference. The organizers were very happy, afterwards receiving not a few letters form the participants with comments such as "it really was one of the best conferences I've ever been to, because everyone was genuinely interested in and knowledgeable about the subject and the conference was sufficiently focused on a few issues that we could really make some progress" (B. Fowler).
The
organizers are especially pleased that the conference motivated the
participation
of, first of all, the specialists working at the international agencies
on
the issue of minority questions, such as the OSCE or Office for
National
and Ethnic Minorities. Besides, many students came to the conference
from
the local universities, including Central European University and
Eötvös
Lóránd University. Additionally, the local media were also interested
in
the international event: for example, the Duna TV, a Hungarian TV
network
for international broadcasting, produced a 10 minute program on the
conference
in the evening of 18 October 2004, also available on the website http://www.dunatv.hu/video.thml.
The Magyar Nemzet, one of the
most popular newspapers in Hungary, carried a two-page long article on
the conference on 30 October 2004.
The papers given to the conference will be the essays of the second volume on the topic of the status law syndrome. The editorial work is now on-going, and the book is expected to be published in spring 2005 by the SRC. The editors are the same as the previous one, that is, Zoltán Kántor, Teleki László Institute, Balázs Majtényi, Institute of Legal studies, Balázs Vizi, Minority Studies Institute, Iván Halász, Institute of Legal Studies, and Osamu Ieda, the SRC.
Last, but not least, the international conference could be successful thanks to the local logistic work conducted by Anna Osváth and Orsolya Szabó Minority Studies Institute, Hungary and Masayoshi Hata and Kumi Mouri at the SRC in Japan.
IEDA Osamu
Brigid Fowler (University of
Birmingham)
"The Status Law in European Context"
Zoltán Kántor (Teleki Institute,
Budapest)
"The Uses (and misuses) of the Concept of Nation in the ECE 'Status
Laws'"
Stephen Deets (Miami University of
Ohio)
"The Hungarian Status Law and the Spectre of Neo-Medievalism in Europe"
Walter Kemp (Office of the
Secretary General of the OSCE, Vienna)
"The Triadic Nexus: Lessons Learned from the Status Law"
Judit Tóth (Minority Studies
Institute, HAS, Budapest)
"Kin-Minority, Kin-State and Neighbourhood Policy in the Enlarged EU"
Herbert Küpper (Institute for East
European Law, München)
"From the Status Law to the Initiative for Dual Citizenship: Aspects of
Domestic Hungarian and International Law"
Balázs Majtényi (Insf Legal
Studies, HAS, Budapest)
"Utilitarism in Minority Protection (Status Laws and International
Organizations)"
Stroschein (Weatherhead Center,
Harvard University, Cambr)
"Weber, Territory, and the Sta Time for New Assumptions?"
Zsuzsa Csergõ and James M. Golgeier
(George Washington University, Washington D.C.)
"Virtual Nationalism in Comparative Context: How Unique is the
Hungarian Approach?"
Iván Halász (Institute of Legal
Studies, HAS, Budapest)
"Models of Kin-Minority Protection in Eastern and Central Europe"
Amitabh Singh (Jawharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi)
"Hungarian Status Law: A Model for Kin-Minority Protection in Post
Communist Societies"
Natsuko Oka (Institute of
Developing Economies, Chiba, Japan)
"Kin-Minority Protection in Central Asia"
Osamu Ieda (SRC)
"Ideological Background of the Status Law Controversy in Hungary"
Tjeerd de Graaf (Frisian Academy,
Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, The Netherlands)
"The Specific Situation of Ethnic Minority Group in the Soviet Union.
The
Mennonites and their Relation with the Netherlands Germany, Poland and
Russia"
Nigel Swain (The University of
Liverpool, Liverpool)
"The Innocence of Article Eighteen, Paragraph Two, Subsection E."
András László Pap (Kodolányi
College, Székesfehérvár, Hungary)
"Minority Rights and Diaspora Claims: Collision and Interdependence"
George Schöpflin (University
College London)
"Beyond the Status Law: Hungary and the EU"
Gabriel von Toggenburg (European
Academy, Bolzano/Bozen)
"What Status for 'Status Laws' in the Postnational EU Market?"
Balázs Vizi (Minority Studies
Institute, HAS, Budapest)
"Cross-border Minority Protection and European Integration"
Helge Hornburg (Faculty of Law,
Technical University, Dresden)
"The Relationship of Kin-State/Kin-Minority Legislation and European
Community
Law, Especially the Prohibition of Discrimination"
Constantin Iordachi (Central
European University, Budapest)
"Dual Citizenship and National Policies in Post-Communist East-Central
Europe:
A Comparison between Hungary, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova"
Özgür-Baklacioglu Nurcan (Faculty
of Political Science, Istanbul University)
"Migration, Dual Citizenship and Nation-Building in Post-Cold-War
Bulgaria and Turkey"
Gábor Kardos (ELTE, Budapest)
"Prospect for Kin-States?"
László Szarka (Minority Studies
Institute, HAS, Budapest)
"Slovak Reactions to the Hungarian Status Law"