Does European integration expand political opportunities for ethnic mobilization? The Romani movement in Central Europe.

In what way can international organizations influence the development of domestic ethnic protest movements? Since the beginning of the 1990s there has been a growing movement of Romani activists who have sought to redress the problems that face the largely impoverished and marginalized Romani populations in Central Europe. They have found support from a large number of internationally active non-governmental organizations. Gradually, the situation of the Roma also attracted the attention of international governmental organizations, in particular the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union (EU). This paper seeks to find out how this new transnational space for discourse and action affected the development of the Romani movement in the countries of Central Europe. By locating empirical findings from research in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary within a theoretical framework that combines insights from social movement analysis and international relations, the paper not only seeks to make a contribution to understanding of the case of the Romani movement, but also adds to ongoing debates on political action and ethnic identity formation, showing how ethnic minority movements are ultimately conditioned by the interplay of strategies of mobilization, with wider domestic and international policies towards minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]