The “Boomerang Effect” of Kin-state Activism: Cross-border Ties and the Securitization of Kin Minorities

Ethnic Boundaries and Territorial Borders: On the Place of Lezgin Irredentism in the Construction of National Identity in Azerbaijan

“…Their members who live in two or more different states, often have different or multiple citizenship, are subject to different nationalizing processes and policies, and can be variously integrated or excluded from the states where they live. Often, such groups form minorities in one state, but have also a 'kin-state', or an 'external homeland', where their co-ethnics form a core nation (King and Melvin 2000, Liebich 2017, Kaiser and Nikiforova 2006. Transborder ethnic groups can be found all over the world, but the phenomenon has become particularly politicized, and at times securitized, in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where the state borders that emerged after the disintegration of empires and multinational states often aspired to represent ethnic distributions of populations, but generally failed to do so (Liebich 2017).…”

“…Often, such groups form minorities in one state but have also a “kin-state,” or an “external homeland,” where their co-ethnics form a core nation (King and Melvin 2000; Liebich 2019; Kaiser and Nikiforova 2006). Transborder ethnic groups can be found all over the world, but the phenomenon has become particularly politicized, and at times securitized, in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where the state borders that emerged after the disintegration of empires and multinational states often aspired to represent ethnic distributions of populations but generally failed to do so (Liebich 2019). As a result, many borderlands in the region are populated with such groups, who often have competing national narratives and images of the homeland with the core nation.…”

“…In contrast to much of the recent research on transborder groups, which focused on international and transnational dimensions of this phenomenon (Liebich 2019; Kaiser and Nikiforova 2006), in this article, I focus on the national scale of identity construction and examine the impact of irredentism on nationalism in the state of residence. I build on Paasi’s (1996) analytical approach which identified four dimensions of border-related discourses: “we/here” which underlines social integration within boundaries, for example, in the nation-state; “we/there,” which refers to social integration across boundaries, for example, in the case of diasporas; “other/here,” which indicates othering processes and separation within a given territory, for example, in relations with ethnic minorities; and “other/there,” which refers to cultural difference beyond the borders.…”

Separatism and Regionalism in Modern Europe

“…On the other hand, Hungary aims to supersede the neighboring countries' sovereign power with this principle to access its kin communities in the neighboring countries and does not hesitate to use the EU's institutions against its neighbors. Therefore, the implementation of this principle results in severe tensions between Hungary and Slovakia and Romania in the context of sovereignty (Bauböck, 2010;Liebich, 2017). For example, when the-then Hungarian president László Sólyom's plan to visit the Slovak town of Komárno for a ceremony inaugurating a statue of Saint Stephen (the founder and first king of the Hungarian State) in 2012 was prevented by Slovakia, Hungary brought this issue before the European Court of Justice with the claim that Slovakia infringed the principle of free movement (European Commission, 2012).…”

“…For example, when the-then Hungarian president László Sólyom's plan to visit the Slovak town of Komárno for a ceremony inaugurating a statue of Saint Stephen (the founder and first king of the Hungarian State) in 2012 was prevented by Slovakia, Hungary brought this issue before the European Court of Justice with the claim that Slovakia infringed the principle of free movement (European Commission, 2012). The Slovak-Hungarian relationship also deteriorated through nationalist trans-border activism (Liebich, 2017). To illustrate, a diplomatic tension arose when the Slovak police detained 28 Hungarians who visited the Slovak town of Král'ovský Chlmec to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the First Vienna Award of 1938, through which a part of southern Slovakia was given to Hungary by Nazi Germany.…”