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With the first edition of Volume 1 of the Minorities Handbook which appeared in 2000 in German and in 2003 in English, it was possible for the first time for research into European minorities to be presented on a solid, empirical basis. The figures as well as the fundamental information on modern minority protection contained in the Handbook were greeted with a very positive reception and are still found in numerous scholarly publications and information materials. The Handbook has in the meantime come to be regarded as a standard reference work, with its findings also being used on a Europe-wide basis and having become a "tool of the trade" for political decision-makers.
Since those initial publications, though, an acute need has become visible for an update. This has resulted from political and demographic changes in Europe, new legal and political developments and new findings in minorities research. All of these new developments have been included in the most broad-reaching form possible with the compilation of this second edition.

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