International studies, Vol. X No. 3-4, 2010.
Conference paper
The Role of the Roma Community in the Local Self-Government in Slovenia
Vera Klopčić
; The Institute for Ethnic Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
This article examines some open questions concerning the realization of rights of representatives of Roma community in the local councils in Slovenia, within the broader historical review of the development of conditions for the political participation of Roma in the European and national context. It is interesting to follow the development of the idea about special ethnic and cultural Roma identity in Europe, and consequently the process of national consciousness and political emancipation of Roma people. Therefore, both possible answers to the question - "Which is the homeland of the Roma people - Europe or India?" - are correct. This opened some more recent chapters in the modem era of the Roma history. The resolution of the international Roma Parliament (IRU) of January 2002, defines its position as the representation of Roma - "the European stateless nation" - with expressed wish and ambition for equal and full cooperation with other European nations in the process of building the new Europe. Despite these qualitatively new processes, there are still some significant differences between members of Roma community in the field of identification with the idea of the self-recognition of the Roma nation as the constitutive European nation, with mutual ethnic roots, aims and development vision.
Keywords
Roma; European minorities; representatives of local self-government
Hrčak ID:
291529
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2010.
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