New minorities, new modalities: non-territorial autonomy and Western European diversity management regimes

Models of non-territorial autonomy (NTA) have traditionally been overwhelmingly associated with historic minorities in post-Communist Central and Eastern European settings. Yet as Western Europe continues to develop into an ever-increasingly diverse ethno-cultural landscape, and its traditional model of the homogenous nation-state is progressively challenged, the question regarding the extent to which an NTA model could be applied to its post-1945 migrant communities becomes ever more crucial. This paper will assess the difficulties, risks and potential benefits of implementing an NTA model, or aspects thereof, in an attempt to promote the effective participation of Western Europe’s new ethnic minorities in public life. It will evaluate NTA as a tool through which to accommodate ethno-cultural groups’ recognition and representation demands and rights by means of the preservation and development of their identities and cultures. It will consider and reflect upon past examples, current developments and future possibilities in the areas of education, cultural expression, religion and the use of minority languages in a range of Western European settings, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. The paper’s overall aim will be to assess the role NTA could and should play in shaping Western European diversity management regimes at a time at which a backlash against multiculturalism, and fears and concerns concerning the integration and alienation of migrant communities, and Muslim minorities in particular, have become all too prevalent. Its findings will feed into ideas and possible models regarding minorities’ cultural autonomy in multi-ethnic and multi-nation states more widely