The Modern State and Its Enemies by Samuel Salzborn;

Author:Samuel Salzborn;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Network Int'l Limited trading as NBN International (NBNi)

The Grossraum Concepts of Volksgruppenrecht Theory

The attempt by Volksgruppen theory to reshape existing social and political achievements involves not only conceptions of humans and society but also political and legal conceptions of structure and order. The Raum-ordering concepts of Volksgruppen theory are directly tied to its Volk policy concepts, as plans for a völkisch “normality” are transcribed onto the geopolitical structure of Europe, with the intention of reordering the continent according to principles of ethnic homogeneity. The goal here is the enforcement of a völkisch particularist model of society, as opposed to one guided by universalist Enlightenment principles.

According to the concepts of Volksgruppen theory, the order of the European Raum is to be defined by three structural elements: völkisch autonomy, ethnoregionalism and ethnic particularist federalism. These three Raum-ordering concepts are interwoven with one another, complementing each other and exhibiting theoretical overlaps, making it impossible to draw clear boundaries between them. Nonetheless, they are each integrally concerned with different vertical dimensions of how to order Raum and society.

Whereas the autonomy-oriented concepts are formally concerned with the position of an autochthonous Volksgruppe within the broader society of its ostensible “homeland,” along with the concrete legal and political structuring of this Raum in relation to other entities and actors, the concept of ethnoregionalism is focused on structuring the territorial dimension of the völkisch units, employing ethnic legitimation arguments against the claims of other territorial groups. Ethnoregionalism thereby constructs the relevant territory as a politically operative one in the first place, in demarcating it according to ethnic criteria as opposed to other potential ways of structuring (such as economic or social ones). Furthermore, ethnoregionalism not only defines the internal structure of a völkisch region but also regulates the horizontal relations between such regions. Paradigmatically speaking, the bonding together of these individual völkisch-defined regions is not to be achieved within a nation-state model but rather within a European Grossraum that is federally structured according to ethnic principles. The new European sovereign entity to be established by this ethnic particularist federalism (which is not tied to concepts of national sovereignty) exhibits strong pre-Enlightenment tendencies following the principles of an ethnic hierarchical conception of collectivity; the goal here is the fundamental reordering of Europe through the creation of an ethnofederal Reich.

The principle of autonomy is aimed at empowering the Volksgruppe as a legal entity within the state (i.e., as a corporate body) so that it can exert—to different degrees in different areas—decision-making powers in political, judicial, economic and social spheres by issuing legal regulations as it sees fit within a self-administration framework, whereby this autonomous subject always remains bound to the wider state through ties anchored in Staatsrecht, and the territory subject to this special regulatory framework does not acquire the qualities of a sovereign state itself. (see Simon 2000). Autonomy is seen as the “key instrument for protecting the Volksgruppe”—with which the goal of internationalizing Volksgruppen politics can be further pursued (Pan 1995, 52–53)—and is extolled as the “only realistic way” to resolve minorities conflicts (Pan 2001, 80).

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