Central governance and minority rights: The case of the developing country

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to study the institutional approach of the Serbian state toward ethnic minorities, specifically towards the Albanian ethnic minority in Serbia. The research focuses on the Serbian state governance forms and how these forms reflect on local governance policies by the Albanian majority. The deprivation of many individual and national rights has influenced the strengthening of the national identity (Searle-White, 2001). The paper is a theoretical study that is based on the qualitative research method and includes the discourse analysis of programs, events, writings, and statements of intellectual and political figures of the relevant times. The paper finds out that the violation of freedom and national rights toward the Albanian minority in Serbia has reflected strong forms of political behavior. In conclusion, it turns out that the Albanian political class in Serbia, disappointed by the state institutions, seeks the help of the mother state of Kosovo so that the status of the Albanians in Serbia is resolved the same as the status of the Serbs of Kosovo. This paper seeks to contribute to central government relations with ethnic minorities as well as making a non-prejudiced approach to the freedoms and rights of ethnic minorities in general