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DIVSEC

EDIS/ABI - Cultural diversity governance from a security perspective

This project combines works on conflict regulation/minority accommodation (broadly defined as cultural diversity governance) with the field of security studies in regards to both the so-called “old” and “new” minorities. In the past twenty years security has become a relevant field of governments’ action with repercussions in several policy areas, including accommodation of diversity and migration. The project focuses on how security issues interplay with the governance of cultural diversity, offering new perspectives that advances our understanding of minority issues and policy debates around the accommodation of cultural diversity.

Key concepts from security studies are adapted and used to develop an innovative analytical framework, in particular human security and securitization/desecuritization. The concept of human security regards the need to guarantee the well-being of individuals, responding to their needs in dealing with sources of threats domestically as well as globally, and develops along various dimensions (including economic, environmental, health, cultural, and political). Securitization refers to the subjective process by which an issue is considered as an existential threat requiring emergency measures, whereas desecuritization is the reverse process.

Normative and empirical research questions addressed by the project include: How should conflict regulation/minority accommodation be reframed in terms of human security? And to what extent do institutional, legal and political instruments of cultural diversity governance address security threats and processes of securitization of minorities and ethnic groups?

With this analytical framework, the project compares various case studies of cultural diversity governance in democratic countries, including South Tyrol and Northern Ireland. Combining discourse, historical-institutional, and law-policy analysis, the research investigates cultural diversity governance along two dimensions: the degree of human security provided, and the extent processes of securitization/desecuritization of minorities and ethnic groups are addressed.

For further information: Andrea Carlà – Institute for Minority Rights – andrea.carla@eurac.edu

Project duration: January 2017 - December 2026
Project status:
Institute: Institute for Minority Rights

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Scientific Publications

Journal article2025

Shifting political landscapes and outbidding effects in South Tyrol: narratives of South Tyrolean political forces towards the autonomy system

Carlà A

Andrea Carlà

The 2023 elections for the South Tyrolean Council marked a turning point for the Italian province with its German- and Ladin-speaking populations and a sophisticated autonomy system. For the first time, the SVP, the party that historically represented German-speakers, lost its dominant position and was forced to create a broader governing alliance, involving for the first time a second German-speaking party and two right-wing Italian speaking parties, one of those being Fratelli d’Italia, the party heir to the Italian post-fascist tradition. Also of note is the electoral success of Südtiroler Freiheit, a party that prioritizes secessionist goals over autonomy. In light of these events, this paper analyzes how the autonomy system affected the relations at the political level between South Tyrolean linguistic groups and the evolution of the narratives of South Tyrolean political forces towards the autonomy system. To this end, this article examines the political discourses of relevant parties, taken from their respective electoral manifestos for the 2023 election, and selected previous programs, to highlight whether, how, and to what extent, perceptions over the autonomy system have changed over time. The analysis reveals the challenges, opportunities, and contradictions of South Tyrolean autonomy in times of change.

DOI Source

DOI: 10.35998/ejm-2025-0013

Journal article2025

The Vicious Circle of Securitization Processes in the Former Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir

Constantin S, Carlà A

Sergiu Constantin, Andrea Carlà

This article analyzes processes of securitization in India’s former State of Jammu and Kashmir (SJK), a disputed borderland characterized by a three-dimensional conflict: the international conflict over Jammu and Kashmir, the inter-governmental conflict between the autonomous SJK and the Indian government, and the inter-communal conflict within the SJK. Applying the concept of securitization beyond its traditional Eurocentric perspective, we explore the securitization of transborder kinship in a case study outside the Global North. We examine the perceived threats vis-à-vis the SJK and the Kashmiri Muslim in light of ontological insecurities rooted in the main Indian national narratives and show how dysfunctional diversity governance in a complex geopolitical context intersects with processes of securitization, affecting inter-communal, inter-governmental, and inter-state relations. The article shows that ontological insecurities, combined with fear of separatism and short-sighted political strategies, led Indian political elites to erode the autonomy of the SJK, and undermine its democratic political processes. This, in turn, led to an increasing dissatisfaction among various communities and, in time, to civil unrest, strong religious polarization, communal and state violence, human rights abuses, insurgency, and the rise of separatist Islamic militant groups. This vicious circle turned New Delhi’s fears into a self-fulfilling prophecy. We highlight the continuum of securitization processes and argue that the former SJK could escape the vicious circle of securitization only through a combination of self-governance, good governance, and international governance.

DOI Source

DOI: 10.1093/jogss/ogae034

Inbook2024

Navigating the implications of consociational power-sharing regimes: Power-sharing and (de)securitization in Northern Ireland and South Tyrol

Carlà A

Andrea Carlà

DOI Source

DOI: 10.3726/b18969

Inbook2023

Migration and (De)Securitisation Dynamics at the Local Level: Discourses and Practices in South Tyrol

Carlà A

Andrea Carlà

In the past decades, South Tyrol, an Italian autonomous province with a German- and Ladin-speaking population and a power-sharing system to protect their cultural features, has witnessed the arrival of many migrants from foreign countries. In addition, as result of the increase in the refugee flows in recent years, thousands of asylum-seekers have passed through and settled in the province. Situated within the ‘local turn’ in migration studies and in the interplay between the fields of migration and security studies, this chapter analyses processes of (de)securitisation vis-à-vis migration in South Tyrol. Adopting the Copenhagen School’s understanding of securitisation as a speech act in combination with a sociological variant that highlights the role of practices, the chapter reveals how, to what extent and in what terms (de)securitisation dynamics have unfolded in South Tyrol regarding the settlement of migrant communities and recent refugee flows. I use a qualitative methodology that looks at discourses and practices as they have emerged in party programmes, political speeches, policy and legal documents. In this way, the chapter will offer a genealogy of (de)securitising discourses and practices at the substate level, revealing the anxieties and problems of dealing with migration when the arrival of migrants meets the presence of old minorities.

DOI Source

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-23996-0_14

All Publications

The Vicious Circle of Securitization Processes in the Former Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir
Constantin S, Carlà A (2025)
Journal article
Journal of Global Security Studies

More information: https://academic.oup.com/jogss/article/10/1/ogae034/7825987

https://doi.org/10.1093/jogss/ogae034

Shifting political landscapes and outbidding effects in South Tyrol: narratives of South Tyrolean political forces towards the autonomy system
Carlà A (2025)
Journal article
Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen

More information: https://doi.org/10.35998/ejm-2025-0013

https://doi.org/10.35998/ejm-2025-0013

Le diverse anime dello Statuto
Carlà A (2025)
Newspaper
Alto Adige

Project Team

Andrea Carlà

Alice Engl

Nicola Arrigoni

Dictionary of (non) politically correct words

Consultancy

Publications

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Journal article2025

The Vicious Circle of Securitization Processes in the Former Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir

Constantin S, Carlà A

Sergiu Constantin, Andrea Carlà

DOI Source

DOI: 10.1093/jogss/ogae034

DIVSEC