CVEK

The existing integrationist approach to addressing the plight of the Roma in Slovakia has been delivering ambiguous results, often promoting Roma assimilation or simply perpetuating their exclusion. This paper proposes an alternative approach: a variant of the national cultural autonomy (NCA) combined with aspects of a joint governance model called ‘transformative accommodation’. Unlike the existing policy, the proposed model of Romani autonomy is better equipped to enable the Roma to participate in setting the parameters for the legal protection of their communities. Saliently, this approach also promises to facilitate the transformation of mainstream institutions in a way that promotes Roma inclusion into these structures. The paper outlines how to engage with models of NCA and transformative accommodation in devising affirmative action policy and membership determination. 

download: Lajcakova_Romani_autonomy