Governing Human Rights and Roma Inclusion: Can the EU be a Catalyst for Local Social Change?

In this article we analyze an important development of policymaking in the European Union (EU) on the Roma, which has evolved in the context of the EU’s growing concern for human rights and Roma inclusion. The human rights focused approach on Roma was initially used by the European Union in the context of the EU’s enlargement process; since 2007, it has informed the EU’s internal policies on Roma. In addition, since 2007 the EU has made use of more broadly defined strategies of fostering social inclusion. Against the backdrop of a case study in the Czech Republic, the article explores the possible impact in the field and suggests some critical ways forward.