National Minority: The Emergence of the Concept in the Habsburg and International Legal Thought

This paper critically analyses how the term ‘minority’ was conceptualized in the Habsburg and international political and legal thought from the nineteenth century until the Minority Treaties after the First World War. We argue that the phrase ‘national minority’ was absent from the legal language u...

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Published inActa Universitatis Sapientiae. European and Regional Studies Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 7 - 37
Main Authors Adorjáni, Anna, Bari, László Bence
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Sciendo 01.12.2019
Scientia Publishing House
Subjects
conceptual history
Late Habsburg Monarchy
minority rights
national minority
nationality question
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Summary:This paper critically analyses how the term ‘minority’ was conceptualized in the Habsburg and international political and legal thought from the nineteenth century until the Minority Treaties after the First World War. We argue that the phrase ‘national minority’ was absent from the legal language up to 1918. Our paper guides the reader through the various traditions and their interwar interpretations that shaped the emergence of the new concept of ‘minority’. The analysis of parliamentary discourses within the Habsburg Empire shows how old and new meanings coexisted in 1918.
ISSN:2068-7583
2068-7583
DOI:10.2478/auseur-2019-0010