This volume describes and analyzes alternative and emerging models of non-territorial autonomy (NTA), particularly in relation to decentralization. The authors push the NTA debate in new directions by offering a re-conceptualization based on ethno-cultural bottom-up decentralized action that redefines autonomy into its true sense of autonomous action. Through description, critical analysis, and evaluation of several case studies, this book assesses the potential for new paradigms within decentralized systems. The authors explore two approaches to political decentralization which add to the theoretical debate on NTA – network governance, which focuses on new dynamics in policy processes, and normative pluralism, which focuses on accommodating the distinctness of the groups through the subsidiarity principle with regard to their own affairs. The book explores the potential ramifications of ethno-cultural NTA institutions acting within the wider framework of state institutions and assesses the functions of these institutions as another dimension of decentralization and thus another ‘layer’ of democracy. With contemporary examples from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa, as well as theoretical aspects of the conceptualization of autonomy, this book offers a truly global perspective. It will be of great interest to policy-makers in countries experiencing adverse developments due to the pressure on public management, as well as advanced students and scholars questioning the ability of the Westphalian system to address cultural diversity.

Non-territorial autonomy is an unusual method of government based on the notion of the devolution of power to entities within the state which exercise jurisdiction over a population defined by personal features (such as opting for a particular ethnic nationality) rather than by geographical location (such as the region in which they live). Developed theoretically by Karl Renner in the early twentieth century as a mechanism for responding to demands for self-government from dispersed minorities within the Austro-Hungarian empire, it had earlier roots in the Ottoman empire, and later formed the basis for constitutional experiments in Estonia, in Belgium, and in states with sizeable but dispersed indigenous minorities. More recently, efforts have been made to apply it in indigenous communities. This approach to the management of ethnic conflict has attracted a small literature, but there is no comprehensive overview of its application. The intention of this special issue is to fill this gap, for the first time offering a comparative assessment of the significance of this political institutional device. Authors of case studies follow a common framework. This book was published as a special issue of Ethnopolitics.

For centuries autonomy has been a public policy tool used to provide stability and cohesion to multicultural societies. Examining case studies on non-territorial autonomy arrangements in comparison with territorial autonomy examples, this book informs both design and decision making on managing diversity.

First published in 1985, Decentralization provides an analytical framework for the comparative study of decentralization in contemporary systems of government. It discusses the structures and processes of all forms of decentralized government and administration, drawing on a wide range of states, developed and developing, capitalist and socialist. The book provides a comparative and theoretical treatment of a subject that for too long has been dealt with in a fragmented and ethnocentric fashion. Decentralization is examined from a theoretical perspective and the political demand for it is analysed. Four key universal themes are then explored: areas, intergovernmental relations, finance and institutions. Decentralization to small-scale communities is discussed and the special claims made for decentralization in developing countries are assessed. Examples are drawn from a wide range of countries throughout the world. The book is intended for courses in public administration, comparative government, urban studies and public policy. It will help both the student and the non-specialist understand an important and topical aspect of government everywhere.

This Open Access textbook is a result of the work of ENTAN – the European Non-Territorial Autonomy Network. It provides students with a comprehensive analysis of the different aspects and issues around the concept of non-territorial autonomy (NTA). The themes of each chapter have been selected to ensure a multi- and interdisciplinary overview of an emerging research field and show both in theory and in practice the possibilities of NTA in addressing cultural, ethnic, religious and language differences in contemporary societies. This is an open access book.

This book is an outcome of the round table conference held in 1984 in Switzerland. It deals with decision of decentralization, structure of decentralized units, external power of decentralized unit, financial autonomy and decentralization and the protection of the basic rights.

This open access book assesses Non-Territorial Autonomy (NTA) in terms of its practical capacity to support the linguistic, cultural, and educational rights of national minority groups across Europe. The fact that 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the coming into force of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities (FCNM) and European Charter for Regional and Minority languages (ECRML) makes this book especially timely and relevant. Its numerous detailed empirical studies, one of which uses FCNM reporting as a benchmark, give a picture of the extent (or otherwise) to which international minority rights standards are actually being realized through various NTA arrangements. In keeping with the principles laid out in these foundational documents, the contributions to this volume acknowledge that when it comes to the effective delivery of linguistic, cultural and educational rights, NTA is best regarded not as an alternative but as a complement to territorially based arrangements. David Smith holds the Alec Nove Chair in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. Ivan Dodovski is Professor in Critical Theory, and Dean of the School of Political Science at University American College Skopje, North Macedonia. Flavia Ghencea holds the Fundamental Institutions of Administrative Law Chair at the Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences at Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania.