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'Ethnic democracy' is a political system that combines a structured ethnic dominance with democratic, political and civil rights for all. Both the dominant ethnic group and the minority ethnic group have citizenship and are able to fully participate in the political process. Ethnic democracy differs from ''ethnocracy'' in being more truly democratic. It provides the non-core groups with more political participation, influence and improvement of status than ''ethnocracy'' supposedly does. Nor is an ethnic democracy a ''Herrenvolk democracy'' which is by definition a democracy officially limited to the core ethnic nation only.^[1]

Contents

Israel

Latvia and Estonia

References

Israel

If the dominant group constitutes a large majority (80% or more), however, it is reasonable to expect that a low level of repressive measures will be required in order to safeguard ethnic domination. This kind of regime is described by Smooha and Hanf (1992) as "ethnic democracy". Their primary empirical reference is the State of Israel (within its 1949 boundaries where the Palestinian Arabs constitutes some 17% of the population). This is a system where the minority is granted certain political and civil rights as citizens of the state, a factor which, according to Smooha and Hanf, justifies the term "democracy" attached to it. However, as they also make clear, "ethnic democracy differs from other types of democracy in according a structured superior status" to the dominant group, keeping the non-dominant groups out of the highest offices of the state and alienating them from the character of the state (its symbols, official language, religion, immigration policy (Smooha and Hanf 1992:32, my emphasis). And most importantly, it is a system where "the nation takes precedent over the state or civil society" (ibid.).
van den Berghe's use of the term "democracy" is acceptable because it refers to a political structure which, within its own limits, is undoubtedly democratic. "Herrenvolk democracy" could be an expression which fruitfully combines contradicting terms. It relates to the presence of democratic institutions (established for the dominant group), but also to the exclusive and racist (strengthened by the German connotations) nature of the system. Smooha and Hanf's use of "democracy" is more problematic because it refers specifically to the rights accorded to the non-dominant group. These rights are not only limited in important respects, but made conditional on the national interests of the dominant group. A system where "the nation [of the dominant group] takes precedence over the state or civil society" is not a type which fits with any well-established conception of democracy because it subordinates democratic rights under an exclusivist national doctrine.
The conditionality of democratic rights in an "ethnic democracy" is well illustrated by Smooha and Hanf themselves when they observe that "Israel can afford to extend democracy to Israeli Arabs because they constitute only one seventh of the Israeli population and roughly one seventh of the Palestinian people. This is why ethnic democracy is a realistic option via-a-vis Israeli Arabs only" (1992:38).

Latvia and Estonia

There is a spectrum of opinion among authors as to the classification of Latvia and Estonia, spanning from Civic Democracy^[2] to Ethnic Democracy.Discrimination against the Russophone Minority in Estonia and Latvia — synopsis of article published in the ''Journal of Common Market Studies'' (November 2005) A minority of analysts argue that classification should primarily be made on the basis of citizenship laws of these countries that granted automatic citizenship to people holding citizenship of Estonia or Latvia in June 1940 and their direct descendants, while descendants of the people who migrated into these countries after the 1940 Soviet invasion could only gain citizenship through a naturalisation process that includes tests on local language and constitution, as well as long-time residency requirements. Most, however, point out that these countries' citizenship laws are not based on ethnicity, obtaining citizenship is not closed to those who choose to obtain it, and thus conclude they more closely fit the model of a civic democracy.
As of 2007, more than 18% of Latvia's residents (approximately half of Russophones), as well as 9% of Estonia's residents lack foreign or domestic citizenship. (The largest minorities ''with'' foreign citizenship are those of Russian Federation in both cases.) The large (nearly 35% in Latvia and 25% in Estonia) Russophone minority was, and continues to be, under-represented in the national parliaments. The OSCE mission in Latvia monitoring the parliamentary elections mentioned that:
The collapse of the Soviet Union, end of its planned economy and the following pressure of profitability saw closure of many union-level enterprises, leading to mass layoffs. Since a majority of these enterprises' employees had been specifically imported in the occupation times, these layoffs led to a sharp rise in unemployment among the Russian-speaking minorities; this disparity continues to this day (e.g. minorities in Estonia in 2006 had 12.9% vs 5.3% unemployment rate for the ethnic Estonians). Significantly, some Estonian researchers^[3] conclude that this can not be attributed to any discriminatory policies, but is an effect of several different economic and social factorsEstonia Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end Amnesty International Document EUR 51/002/2007 7 December 2006 ^[4].
On the other hand, the view that Estonia or Latvia are ethnic democracies is rejected by most writers^[5]. They point out that the citizenship laws of these countries are not ethnicity-based and treat citizens of Russian ethnicity, including those whose families have been living in these countries since before 1940 with the same rights as the ethnic majorities. Some critics also point out a need to counter the post-WWII influx of Russophone population caused by the occupation of Baltic states, and that considerable funds are allocated to integration programs such as lessons of local languages for the non-native people^[6]. For example, the Republic of Estonia reimburses 100% of money spent on language lessons upon the student's passing the naturalisation language test. The basic language requirements for the naturalization are not an obstacle to gaining citizenship in Latvia, as a recent resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in November 2006 found:

References

1. Smooha , S. 'The model of ethnic democracy: Israel as a Jewish and democratic state', ''Nations and Nationalism'', p. 475. Volume 8 Issue s4, 2002.
2. Jubulis M. Nationalism and Democratic Transition. ''The Politics of Citizenship and Language in Post-Soviet Latvia'' (Lanham, New York and Oxford: University Press of America, 2001), pp. 201–208
3. Active Civic Participation of Immigrants in Estonia
4. Amnesty takes on Estonia (reprint)
5. Smooha, S. 'The Model of Ethnic Democracy' in ''The Fate of Ethnic Democracy in Post-Communist Europe'', pp. 129–190. Smooha S, ed. EMCI, 2005.
6. Non-Estonians' Integration Foundation