Regionalism and multi-level governance on language policy in European countries

Introduction: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, adopted by the Council of Europe, has become an important regulator of language policy in the signatory and ratifying countries. As a result, language policy towards minorities, turns out to be a bright example of multi-level governance (MLG) - a new pattern of political interactions, which is characterized not by hierarchical system of subordination to one center (the state), but pluralistic, dispersed activity of many actors interacting at different and interconnected levels of power. MLG, however, differs across various regions, since subnational actors intend to be self-sustained players of political interactions to varying degrees.