This Working Paper is summarizing the main empirical findings presented in the Author’s MA thesis. She defended her thesis at the Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN), Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in June 2006.
Looking at the relationship between the Roma and the local authorities, we see that several issues are politicized and discussed in the public sphere. The objectives of this research can be formulated as follows: with this study it aims to make a contribution to the knowledge about social exclusion of the Roma – by describing social processes and explaining how social and political processes shape the relationship between the Roma and local authorities – and to make a contribution to the knowledge on the interaction between formal and informal institutions.