If rights are awarded to minority groups, what should be the response if these groups in turn discriminate against some of their members? Sixteen distinguished scholars examine the balance between group autonomy and individual rights in relation to gender, religion, culture, and indigenous rights in the national and international sphere.

Throughout the world, certain ethnic groups have made a living through trade and have found a place for themselves in their societies’ middle strata. At times, these ‘middlemen minorities’ have aroused the envy of their neighbors and been subjected to a variety of persecutions. In this book, Walter P. Zenner examines explanations for this phenomenon and analyzes such groups as the Jews, the Chinese, the Scots, and the South Asians abroad.

The present volume, in honour of Professor Patrick Thornberry, presents new thinking on minority and indigenous rights in international law. Contributors to this 17 chapter volume include an impressive range of academics, thinkers, practitioners and international civil servants with a number of different approaches to this complex area. Not all of them take a legal approach, and this exploration benefits from the variety of frameworks utilised in contributing to the controversial area of minority and indigenous rights. Debates that receive attention in this volume include self-determination, definitional issues, collective rights and rights to natural resources. Other chapters unravel challenges that have not attracted sufficient attention to date, such as multiculturalism, integration, colour as a ground for discrimination and the economic and social rights of minorities. The volume also looks critically at the work of the World Bank, the African Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE in this arena. Finally, case studies highlight the regrettable similarities in the suffering of groups in different parts of the world as well as the stark contrast between state claims and their actual practice. The contributors are: Gudmundur Alfredsson, Michael Banton, Joshua Castellino, Erica‐lrene A. Daes, María-Amor Estébanez, Nazila Ghanea, Geoff Gilbert, Bülent Gökay, Tom Hadden, Dominic McGoldrick, Timothy Murithi, John Packer, Chandra K. Roy, Malcolm N. Shaw, Martin Scheinin, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, and Alexandra Xanthaki.

In This Collection Leading Academics And Intellectuals Reflect Upon The Concept Of A Minority And Examine Minority Rights In A Historical And Comparative Political Perspective, Covering The Experiences Of Minorities In India, China, The Eastwhile Soviet Union And Bangladesh.

"'Diversity' is a crucial concept describing the recent shift in minority studies from its focus on social stratification and inequality. In recent times, new theories and concepts that suggest 'positive' meanings are emerging. The focus is on empirically analyzing the mechanisms that produce alienation and discrimination as well as normatively exploring the social conditions that connect minority groups and social diversity to creativity and dynamism. Chapters in this volume delve into the status of women in Japan in relation to marriage and single motherhood, gendered roles and norms in the early modern period, the Japanese American reparation movement, Korean and Muslim ethnic minorities in Japan and the United Kingdom, mutual aid in Okinawa, and the role of NGOs and NPOs in fostering social diversity. This insightful work suggests that in order to broaden our understanding of minorities we should examine the ways in which these groups promote the enrichment of society."--Publisher's description.

1993-1995.