Politicization of Ethnic Minorities in the Eu: Regional Dimension

Abstract

As a rule, the dominant research strategy of the ethnicity politicization factors includes case-study analysis or comparison of small number of cases. There are no cross-regional comparative studies. In this paper, a statistical analysis is carried out to determine the degree of influence of various factors on the ethnic minorities’ politicization in the regions of the EU countries. It is proposed to understand the ethnic minorities politicization as a presence and an electoral success of ethnic parties in the regions. 113 ethnic minorities living in the regions of 16 countries of the European Union were selected for the analysis by the methods of logistic and linear regression. The research found that the share of ethnic minority in the population of a region, the historical past of ethnic minorities, the size of their area of residence and the degree of separation have positive influence on the politicization. However, it was not possible to identify a positive influence of the religious character of the ethnic minority and the level of its economic well-being on politicization.