Revisiting the question of institutional design in ethnically divided societies through the lens of minority education : comparative perspectives from Europe’s Eastern periphery

Abstract

This thesis puts in a new light the old problem of institutional design for ethnically divided societies. The lens through which I examine this question is mass education, a key mechanism of cultural reproduction and ethno-national homogenization. In doing so I integrate the insights of various intellectual traditions, including the most recent developments in the field of comparative ethnicity and nationalism, as well as neoinstitutional analysis. The logic and method of the thesis is comparative, based on case studies from Europe’s Eastern periphery. It draws its evidence from a variety of sources, including interview material and the related historiography. I begin by delineating the general research problem, reviewing the existing theoretical and empirical literature, and outlining the place of my study in it. A historical and contemporary examination of the basic demographic and policy frameworks in East-Central Europe follows, with the aim of familiarizing the reader with the overall factual context within which the thesis is framed. This leads to the discussion of the comparative logic adopted and the overall methodological approach. The next three analytical chapters interrogate a different sub-question each, based on the contrasting assessment of a pair of carefully selected cases. Despite their differences in substance, approach, and design, these analyses jointly advance the understanding of the drivers of institutional choice and change in ethnically divided societies. But they also go beyond that in their explorations of the ways culture, identity and politics interlink more generally.