Andreas Klinke - Ethnic Conflicts and Civil Society: Proposals for a New Era in Eastern Europe: Proposals for a New Era in Eastern Europe

First published 1997 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

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Copyright Andreas Klinke, Ortwin Renn and Jean-Paul Lehners 1997

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ISBN 13: 978-1-138-62593-8 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-93552-5 (pbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-45942-9 (ebk)

During the time of heavy fighting in the former republics of Yugoslavia, the City of Luxembourg became a lively place of discussion, debate, and discourse among representatives of those groups whose leaders were obsessed with the idea of ethnic cleansing and violent struggles over land and political power. Over a two-day period twelve analysts and observers from troubled Eastern and Central European Countries as well as from Western Europe and the United States came together to address one of the most pressing issues in contemporary politics: How can ethnic and political cooperation be accomplished in ethnically and politically heterogeneous countries after the collapse of the communist regimes which left a dangerous void for nationalist and even chauvinist movements? In other words, what are the personal and institutional prerequisites for achieving a civil society capable of resolving conflicts in a peaceful and constructive manner? All the invited scholars from academia, the arts, international research institutes, and various international agencies agreed on one fundamental principle: For policies to be effective and legitimate, we need to empower people on the local and regional level to build traditions and institutional means for resolving conflicts and coping with ethnic, social, and political tensions. There is no technocratic solution nor a centralized top-down approach that would be able to provide long-lasting and stable conditions for peaceful cooperation. For a period of transition, however, international control and centralized efforts to keep order were seen as an inevitable, but in the long term insufficient, step in the difficult process of building a nation based on mutual respect and civil rights.