The East European Gypsies

by Zoltan Barany

• ISBN13: 9780521009102
• ISBN10: 0521009103
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first attempt by a social scientist to explain the predicament of Gypsies (or Roma), Eastern Europe's largest ethnic minority, and their relationship to the region's states and societies. Barany examines the Gypsies' socioeconomic and political marginality and policies toward them through seven centuries and in seven East European states. He illuminates the reasons why the Roma have consistently occupied the bottom of social, economic, and political hierarchies regardless of historical period or geographic location. Barany argues that the current nostalgia of many Gypsies for the socialist period is easy to understand, given the disastrous effect of the post-communist socioeconomic transformation on the Roma's conditions over the last decade. He explains the impact of Gypsy political mobilization, and the activities of international organizations and NGOs, on government policies. This pioneering multidisciplinary work will engage political scientists, sociologists and historians, as well as students of ethnic and racial studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(22)
PART I. THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
Regimes, States, and Minorities	23	(26)
Marginality and Ethnic Mobilization	49	(34)
PART II. NONDEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS AND GYPSY MARGINALITY
The Gypsies in Imperial and Authoritarian States	83	(29)
The Roma under State-Socialism	112	(45)
PART III. THE GYPSIES IN EMERGING DEMOCRACIES
The Socioeconomic Impact of Regime Change: Gypsy Marginality in the 1990s	157	(45)
Romani Mobilization	202	(39)
The International Dimension: Migration and Institutions	241	(41)
State Institutions and Policies toward the Gypsies	282	(43)
Romani Marginality Revisited	325	(29)
Conclusion	354	(9)
References	363	(26)
Index	389