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The Limits of the German Minority Project in Post-communist Poland: Scale, Space and Democratic Deliberation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Michael Fleming
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Extract

This paper explores the development of the German minority community in Postcommunist Poland, focusing specifically upon the Opole Silesia voivodship. I argue that the minority's successful engagement within democratic fora at all spatial scales allowed the minority to voice its concerns and secure funds to develop its community infrastructure. However, as the 1990s progressed, the minority's ability to manipulate a politics of scale declined as the policy objectives of key allies were achieved or reformulated. Furthermore, the changing contours of the minority–majority relationship within Poland have exposed significant cleavages within the minority, bringing into question the continued relevance of the German minority political party for the constituency it claims to represent.

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Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 391 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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