Post-World War One Plebiscites and Their Legacies

Exploring the Right of Self-Determination

Buch | Hardcover

286 Seiten

2024
Central European University Press (Verlag)
978-963-386-610-8 (ISBN)

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Plebiscites, or referendums, are epitomes of direct democracy and the right of self-determination. While direct democracy has always been a key subject in the theory and practice of western liberal democracies, the issue of self-determination has been propelled to the fore by the hegemonistic moves of Russia. By providing a historical analysis of the post-World War One plebiscites, this book deals with enduring, painfully contemporary, and in in any case fundamental, concepts.

The contributors to this edited volume approach the referendums comparatively. After grounding the analysis theoretically, the authors look at detailed aspects of individual cases, with the two plebiscites held in the Danish-German border region of Schleswig in the winter of 1920 as points of departure. They then extend the exploration through the inter-war period and address the effects of border delimitations on everyday life or gender roles in the context of ethnic mobilization. Finally, the book places the post-World War One plebiscites in a long-term perspective. The concluding essays assess, among others, the applicability of plebiscitary solutions to contemporary conflicts, taking into consideration issues of borders, religion, language, identity, and minority rights.

Sergiusz Bober is Senior Researcher at European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI).

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction: Between Plebiscites, Difficult History, and Minority Rights

Sergiusz Bober

PART I.: The Right to Self-Determination and Plebiscites

Chapter 1. Schleswig Safe for Democracy? A Comparative Perspective on Right-Sizing Referendums

Matt Qvortrup

Chapter 2. Plebiscites and the Difficult Transition to Peace after the First World War

Volker Prott

PART II.: Plebiscites and Minority Rights in the Aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference

Chapter 3. Where is Schleswig? Danish, German, and International Conceptions of the Schleswig Plebiscite

Ryan J. Gesme

Chapter 4. Principles and Politics: Flensburg and Klagenfurt in the Plebiscites of 1920

Peter Thaler

Chapter 5. Visions of Legal and Substantive Citizenship and the League of Nations’ Minority Treaties

Kristin Henrard

PART III.: Post-Plebiscitary Territories as Living Spaces between the Two World Wars

Chapter 6. Fabricating a Border: The Sopron Plebiscite of 1921 and the Delineation of Burgenland

Béla Rásky

Chapter 7. “Here at the Bleeding Eastern Border, One Could See the Injustice”: July 11, 1920, in the Public Conscience and the Regierungspräsidium of Marienwerder until 1939

Harald V. Keudell

Chapter 8. A Gendered View on the Plebiscitary and Post-plebiscitary Carinthian Slovene Minority: Roles and Realities of Women

Tina Bahovec

PART IV:: The Post-World War I Plebiscites in the Longue Durée

Chapter 9. Plebiscites, Minorities, and the Right of National Self-determination—Some Lessons from 1920

Martin Klatt

Chapter 10. Militarized Plebiscite? The Legacy of the 1920 Carinthian Plebiscite

Robert Knight

Chapter 11. About Sèvres, Lausanne, the Widow Molla Sali, and the Ineffectual Attempt of Greece to Circumvent the Principles of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Detlev Rein

Concluding Chapter

“Why Not Hold a Plebiscite like in Schleswig?” The Significance of Plebiscites in Solving Nationality and Border Conflicts in Europe since World War I

Jørgen Kühl

List of Contributors

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	21.05.2024
Zusatzinfo	3 Tables, black and white; 8 Figures
Verlagsort	Budapest
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	556 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	963-386-610-3 / 9633866103
ISBN-13	978-963-386-610-8 / 9789633866108
Zustand	Neuware