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N°25 - June 2008
En quoi les « partis ethniques » sont-ils « ethniques » ? Les trajectoires du MDL en Bulgarie et de l’UDMR en Roumanie, by Antonela Capelle-Pogacean and Nadège Ragaru

A rather marginal theme in Eastern European studies before the end of communism, ethnic politics and minority policies in Central and South-East Europe have given birth to a very rich body of literature in the 1990s. Some analyses have been influenced by the so-called “transitology” paradigm; others have borrowed from ethnic conflict studies. In both cases, though, ethnocultural diversity has mostly been treated in a normative way and portrayed as an obstacle to democratization. As for ethnic parties, they have alternatively been presented as conducive to better political participation and integration for the minorities (in a multiculturalist perspective) or as a threat to state stability and to democracy. Regardless of these cleavages, most research on ethnic identifications and on their mobilization in politics has been grounded upon substantial definitions of ethnic “groups” and has reified differences between “generalist” and “ethnic” parties. The present comparison between the trajectory of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MFR, which represents the interests of the Turks and other Muslims in Bulgaria) and that of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR, representing the Hungarian population) departs from these approaches in two ways. First, it emphasizes the centrality of the sociology of collective action to understanding the politicization of ethnicity, while insisting on the need to trace the particular historical processes through which ethnicity has been constructed and politicized in every single case. Second, attention is brought to the role the social imaginary plays in shaping the strategies of social and political actors. To put it otherwise, we argue that identities are not exogenous to politicization processes; they are redefined, renegotiated and reappropriated as social actors invest the political field. “Ethnic parties” are in urgent need of deexoticization: Like most parties, they cannot elude the traditional dilemmas of political representation, in particular the need to be perceived as both responsive and accountable.

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Until 1998, the series Les Cahiers du CERI published research texts in the form of stapled booklets. Now, most of them are out of stock but can still be downloaded from the CERI website. The new series, Questions de recherche / Research in Question, was launched in 2001 to replace Les Cahiers. It is an electronic series which can be easily accessed on this web site.

As Les Cahiers did in the past, this electronic series publishes different kinds of research output (field studies, theoretical reflections, discussions of concepts and methodology, in addition to a mix of these styles), whose format and exploratory nature prevent publication in a scientific journal. As with any “research paper” series, Research in Question is intended to facilitate an early distribution of works in progress and allow for an exchange of commentary and criticism. Later publication of a Research in Question paper is nevertheless possible. Research in Question is published either in English or French

ISSN 1634-0671

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2008

N°25 - June 2008
En quoi les « partis ethniques » sont-ils « ethniques » ? Les trajectoires du MDL en Bulgarie et de l’UDMR en Roumanie, by Antonela Capelle-Pogacean and Nadège Ragaru
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N°24 - March 2008
Le concept de situation thermidorienne : régimes néo-révolutionnaires et libéralisation économique,
by Jean-François Bayart
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2007

N°23 - December 2007
L’analyse de la « rivalité » dans les relations internationales. Le cas de l’Inde et de la Chine, by Renaud Egreteau
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N°22 - October 2007
Le Sangh Parivar et la diaspora hindoue en Occident : Royaume-Uni, États-Unis et Canada, by Christophe Jaffrelot and Ingrid Therwath
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N°21 - September 2007
L’invention de l’aide française au développement. Discours, instruments et pratiques d’une dynamique hégémonique, by Julien Meimon
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N°20 - April 2007
Sovereignties, the World Conference against Racism 2001 and the Formation of a Dalit Human Rights Campaign, by Dag Erik Berg
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2006

N°19 - December 2006
Viewing the “New” South Africa. Representations of South Africa in Television Commercials: an Experiment in Non-directive Methods, by Rehana Ebrahim-Vally and Denis-Constant Martin
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N°18 - June 2006
Les sciences sociales et le « moment colonial » : de la problématique de la domination coloniale à celle de l’hégémonie impériale, by Romain Bertand
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N°17 - May 2006
Le débat russe sur l’informel, by Myriam Désert
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2005

N°16 - December 2005
"Qui a le bâton, a le buffle". Le corporatisme économique de l'armée pakistanaise, by Amélie Blom
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N°15 - October 2005
Solving Europe’s Binary Human Rights Puzzle. The Interaction between Supranational Courts as a Parameter of European Governance, by Laurent Scheeck
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N°14 - June 2005
Les analyses de l'engagement associatif en Russie, by Françoise Daucé
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N°13 - February 2005
"Shadow States" ? State building and national invention under external constraint in Kosovo and East Timor (1974-2002) - Raphaël Pouyé
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2004

N°12 - December 2004
Russian Foreign Policy Discourse during the Kosovo Crisis : Internal Struggles and the Political Imaginaire, by Guillaume Colin
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N°11 - January 2004
Religion and Politics in Greece : The Greek Church’s ‘Conservative Modernization’ in the 1990s, by Anastassios Anastassiadis
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2003

N°10 - June 2003
For a theory of nationalism, by Christophe Jaffrelot
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N°9 - May 2003
Le voleur et la matrice : Les enjeux du « cybernationalisme » et du « hacktivisme », by Laurent Gayer
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N°8 - February 2003
Les marchés de la vertu : la promesse des fonds éthiques et des micro-crédits, by Javier Santiso
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2002

N°7 - September 2002
Analyser le massacre. Réflexions comparatives, by Jacques Sémelin
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N°6 - June 2002
Analyser les modes de représentation des intérêts dans l'Union européenne : construction d'une problématique, by Sabine Saurugger
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N°5 - February 2002
Les relations civilo-militaires en Croatie, 1990-2001, by Renéo Lukic and Jean-François Morel
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N°4 - January 2002
New Perspectives on EU-Member State Relationships, by Simon Bulmer and Christian Lequesne
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2001

N°3 - November 2001
The Adjudication of Ethnic Claims by John Crowley
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N°2 - November 2001
Politics Behind The Mask: Studying Contemporary Carnivals in Political Perspective, Theoretical and Methodological Suggestions, by Denis- Constant Martin
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N°1 - November 2001
"Injustes" sanctions : les constructions internationales de la dénonciation des embargos et l'escalade de la vertu abolitionniste, by Ariel Colonomos
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