Dr Timofey Agarin

Contact Details
Lecturer in Politics and Ethnic Conflict
(PhD Aberdeen, MA Marburg)
Room 023.02.005
+44 28 9097 3659

t.agarin@qub.ac.uk

Teaching Areas

Skills and Methods of Political Research; Approaches to Research Design; Ethnic and National Conflict Management; Minorities in Europe

Research Interests

My interest is with ethnic politics and the role these play in Central Eastern European societies. In the past I looked at the dynamic relations between national identity, power relations and ethnic conflict across the postcommunist region and particularly at institutions of the nation-state. I am particularly interested in the interplay of social and institutional changes in postcommunism in the issue areas of non-discrimination, minority protection and migration. Using the cases of institutions tasked with minority protection, I investigate how democratising states cooperate with one another as well as with international organisations to reduce ethnic tensions domestically and ensure peace and stability in postcommunist states.

Beyond my interest in ethnic politics, I keep a keen eye upon research on civil society and analyse how voluntary organisations factor into cooperation between states and international organisations. Here, I am concerned with issues as diverse as environmental sustainability, language policy and planning, representation in democratic politics and participation of minorities, especially of Roma.

Recent/selected publications

Journal articles

• ‘Resident aliens? Explaining Minority Disaffection with Democratic Politics in the Baltic States’, Ethnopolitics  https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfZEHIvoc-TnNOd21fYkZ1YkE
• ‘The Implementation Trap? Trajectories of Minority Rights Issues in Europe. Introduction’ Special Issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society 2012, 13 (4) with Malte Brosig.
• ‘Which Is the Only Game in Town? Minority Rights Issues in Estonia and Slovakia During and After EU Accession’. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 2012, 13 (4) with Ada-Charlotte Regelmann https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfZEHIvoc-VVd0VnFlU1NWVjg
• Hornsby, Michael, and Timofey Agarin. 2012. ‘The End of Minority Languages?  Europe’s Regional Languages in Perspective’. Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 11 (1). http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2012/HornsbyAgarin.pdf
•  ‘Civil Society versus Nationalizing State? Advocacy of Minority Rights in the post-socialist Baltic States.’ Nationalities Papers 39, 2011, pp. 181-203. (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfZEHIvoc-OTFiOTQ0ZTQtM2M5ZS00NTAwLWIyOGItNjU0NjFiYjM3ZjI5)
• ‘Status Quo Multiculturalism:  The Crux of Minority Policies in Central Eastern Europe’s EU Member-states,’ (with Ada-Charlotte Regelmann) Journal of Minority Studies 5, 2011, pp. 69-98. (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfZEHIvoc-YmUwNjk2MzktODRhOC00MzM5LWI2ZDUtOGZjOWFjMzA5YmY4)
• ‘Redessiner la frontière: des politiques ethniques cohérentes ou une décentralisation s´lective en Estonie, Lituanie et Slovaquie,’ (with Ada-Charlotte Regelmann) Informations et commentaires : Le développement en questions 155, avril-juin 2011, 53-60
• ‘Where Have All the Environmentalists Gone? Baltic Greens in the mid-1990s,’ Journal of Baltic Studies, 3, 2009, pp. 285-305. (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfZEHIvoc-ZjBjOWQyMjctOTc0OS00MGYyLWExMDEtZWIwOGRjMWY2Mjli)
• ‘Categories of Membership: Employing Social Identity Theory in Analyses of Integration of Russian-Speaking Communities in the Baltic Societies,’ Socialo Zinatnu Vestensis (Latvian Journal of Social Sciences), 2, 2007, pp. 124-146.

Books

•  A Cat’s Lick. Democratisation and Minority Communities in the post-Soviet Baltic (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2010)

Edited volumes:

• With Karl Cordell and Alexander Osipov (eds) 2013. Institutional Legacies of Communism: Change and Continuities in Minority Protection. London: Routledge.

• with Malte Brosig, Minority Integration in Central Eastern Europe: Between Ethnic Diversity and Equality (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2009).