Kai Schafft

This research will examine ongoing impacts, contradictions, and civic outcomes of Hungary's 1993 Act 77 on the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities, legislation that created the framework for self-governance among Hungary's 13 recognized minority groups. Minority self-governance arguably has the greatest implications for Hungary's Roma or Gypsy population, the largest minority within Hungary, as well as its most economically disadvantaged and politically marginalized. What are the current activities and efforts as reported by Roma minority self-governments across activity areas defined by Act 77, how are Roma minority self-governments addressing educational equity and access? What factors help to explain the variation in type, levels and efficacy of self-governance activity? Finally, how do these activities and efforts either enhance Roma civic and political participation or further the ethnicization of poverty and social exclusion among Hungary's Roma?