Minority Rights in a contemporary dictatorship

Master's Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Region: Eastern Europe grade: 15 European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) language: English abstract: The master thesis is related to significant problems in contemporary Europe - not only from the perspective of Polish people living in Belarus but also from the internationalperspective.Belarus is arguably the least democratic country in Europe. As such it has posed problems for the EU and other European and Western institutions especially on the field of minority protection. Minorities are among the most contested issuesin political life because they speak to an inherent tension in human affairs between competing desires for freedom and belonging. The diversity aimed by the Western political actors simply contradicts the principle that legitimates a political community in an authoritarian state. In the case of the Belarusiandictatorship it leads to enhanced conformity resulting in minority discrimination. The paper presents different kinds of the external influence in order to assess the most effective one(s) when defending minority rights in a dictatorship.The 1st chapter the Author presents the ways of understanding andconsidering the problems of minorities minority rights their protection as well as the relationship between minorities and dictatorship. The Author is highlighting research methods too.In the 2nd chapter Ms. Szumanska concentrates on presenting the origins of dictatorship in Belarus and on how Polish minorityfunctions there. The Author tries to examine the situation of Poles in the contemporary Belarus. The 3rd chapter gives a good overview of regulations (internal bilateral and international standards) related to the treatment of minorities in Belarus.She states that practices of Belarusian authorities towards Polish minority in Belarus is incompatible with democratic standards.The 4th chapter is an attempt to present and analyze theimpact of Western countries