Call for Book Chapters 

Routledge History of the International Protection of Minorities, 1919-2001

Co-editors, Carole Fink (Humanities Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at The Ohio State University), Anna-Mária Bíró (Director of the Tom Lantos Institute), Jennifer Jackson-Preece (Associate Professor of Nationalism at the London School of Economics) and Corinne Lennox (Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the School of Advanced Study, University of London), invite proposals for the edited collection Routledge History of the International Protection of Minorities, 1919-2001, to be published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis).

Aims

This interdisciplinary volume aims at documenting the history of the international protection of minority groups in the twentieth century and with a global focus. Encompassing international relations, history, politics, law, economics, societies, and cultures within a broad historical framework, it will make the work of researchers, international officials, and practitioners available to scholars, teachers, students, and the public and indicate paths for further research and policy development. 

Scope

The collection will focus on national, ethnic, religious, linguistic and racialised minorities, and where appropriate, also Indigenous peoples.

Themes

Minorities, War, and Peace  

The role of minorities in war and peace is both complex and contested.  Minority questions are often framed as sources of conflict that must be solved as a precondition for peace. Such conclusions have prompted a variety of responses, which this theme will interrogate. In so doing, particular attention will be paid to minorities as pretexts for and perpetrators of conflict vs minorities as victims of conflict.

Key themes may include minorities and the World Wars; kin states & irredentism; minorities, majorities and ethnic conflict; and minorities, peace treaties & complex power sharing.

Boundaries 

The state system is a real estate model in which minorities often occupy ambivalent positions. From an international perspective, this dimension is especially important because of its implications for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of existing states and by extension peace and stability within the system of states.  Minorities may have traditional homelands that straddle existing state frontiers, may regularly move across borders, and may have attachments to both kin states and states of residence.  This theme will interrogate these various circumstances focusing on both the challenges and the opportunities that they present for minority protection.

Key themes could include minority rights as a condition of recognition for new or enlarged states; plebiscitary norms and boundary changes; moving minorities to secure borders: transfers, expulsions and flight; bilateral minority rights and border regions; and transnational minorities.

Decolonization 

Decolonization transformed subject peoples within imperial systems into sovereign peoples within the states system. In so doing, some colonized peoples became ruling majorities within the newly independent post-colonial states while others found themselves in minority positions. This section will locate such minority experiences within evolving dynamics of self-determination and globalization. Here we will interrogate how, why, and with what effect the relationship between sovereignty, self-determination and minority protection shifted. We will also examine the experience of minorities formed by processes of globalization both during and after empire.

The theme could include contributions on minorities and changing norms on self-determination; minorities, mandates and trust territories; ‘middleman’ minorities and decolonization; imperial (dominant) minorities and the aftermath of empire; internal decolonization and indigenous rights; migration, minorities and decolonization; and reparations for the crimes of colonialism.

Global Governance

States have used inter-governmental organisations to help address problems of minority protection at both the global and regional levels.  Supra-state monitoring mechanisms have been relied upon by minority groups to petition against national encroachments on their rights.  This theme will offer some comparative perspectives across regions and relevant inter-governmental organisations concerning the approaches to governance of minority protection.

The major global and regional governance systems under review will include:the League of Nations System; the United Nations System; European Institutions (e.g., Council of Europe, EEC, EU, CSCE, OSCE); Asian Institutions (e.g., SAARC, ASEAN, OIC, Arab League; African Institutions (e.g. AU, ECOWAS) and Institutions in the Americas (e.g., OAS).  

International Law 

Minority groups are both objects and subjects of international law.  Their protection has featured in international law in bilateral and multilateral treaties.  How they are included and protected in international law has long been debated.  International standards to protect the rights of minorities have often fallen short, reflecting state interests rather than justice for minorities.  This section will provide a detailed examination of major treaties and international courts to delineate the scope of norms for international protection of minorities, examples of influential international case law, and key gaps and contentious interpretations of international law concerning minorities.  

This theme may cover topics such as a comprehensive analysis of the extant international minority and indigenous peoples protection regimes, cultural rights and international law; the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination and the development of anti-racism norms; relevant case law of the major regional human rights systems; the protection of religious minorities under international law; and comparing approaches to minorities and indigenous peoples under international law.

International Activism for Minority Rights  

Minority groups have mobilized across borders to form international networks to coordinate and represent their interests to states and within global governance institutions.  Among their key goals has been to shape international norms to better secure justice.  This theme will consider some of the major transnational movements of minority groups, the main aims and impact of those movements. It will also include the role of international civil society organizations in the protection of minorities.  

Some themes that may be included within this section are minority activism under the League System, Indigenous activism under the UN, international activism of people of African descent, international NGOs and minority rights advocacy and the role of the media in international minority rights protection. 

Submission procedure

The editors are seeking around 30-35 authors from all global regions to contribute original chapters to the collection.  We encourage submissions from early career scholars as well as activists and welcome contributions from people who identify as minorities and/or Indigenous peoples.

Please submit your proposal, including which theme of the collection your contribution will address, provisional title of your manuscript, an abstract (up to 300 words), and an author’s biography (up to 200 words). 

Proposals should be submitted to the Managing Editor, Sean Waller (International Programme Coordinator, Tom Lantos Institute) – by Friday 14th January 2023.