Introduction to the Research Handbook on Minority Politics in the European Union

Understanding minority politics in the European Union (EU) requires examining legal frameworks, institutional setups and dynamics, policy-making at multiple levels, inter-state power relations as well as the influence of international and global politics. Moreover, it is also relevant to know what the concept of politics represents and how to assess patterns of minority politics across the span of policy-making on ethno-cultural minority groups of the Union. Importantly is also the need to understand the fact that an authoritative and universal definition of 'minority' does not exist for scientific reasons as well as moral objectives. This Introduction addresses these aspects of the study of minority politics in the EU and provides an overview of the Research Handbook's chapters divided along four specific discussions, the politics of the acquis communautaire, of decision-making and of policy-making, of diversity and of cohesion, and the politics of external action. In the concluding paragraph, it provides pointers towards one of the major hurdles that minority politics encounter in the EU.