dealing with just the rights of workers.13 One possible approach, something of a middle ground, is to set forth social and political rights as statements of principle. Thus they would be directives to the legislature, carrying aspiration value. Although not self-executing, such norms would also be useful to courts in interpreting legislation and administrative actions.14 Rights of national and other minorities. An interesting intersection between negative and affirmative rights may be found in the delicate area of ethnic and national minorities. In addition to banning various forms of discrimination, bills of rights in Central and Eastern Europe often declare affirmative rights of language, culture, and education. The Czech and Slovak charter, for example, guaranteed national and ethnic minorities the right to education in their own language, the right to use that language in official settings, and the right to participation (unspecified in form) in the resolution of matters concerning those minorities.15 The Copenhagen Document (1990) deals at length with the problem of national minorities. It declares that persons belonging to national minorities can exercise their rights "individually as well as in community with other members of their group."16 This language raises the question whether constitution-makers should provide, not only for individual rights, but also for group rights. One can argue that, in the context of a particular country's demography, some form of group rights (e.g., local autonomy as to education) may well be needed for political stability and social harmony. This should be seen as essentially a political decision. But, measuring the place of individual rights against group rights, drafters should give primacy to individual rights -- to the classic human rights. A theory of individual rights stresses human dignity and the worth of the individual. In countries faced with tensions among national or other groups, the vigorous enforcement of individual rights carries special force because they extend to all persons, regardless of race or nationality. Ready access to independent courts for the enforcement of the anti-discrimination principle and the protection of individual rights such as free exercise of religion can go a long way toward giving national and other minorities a sense of security, making the demand for group rights less pressing. Civil Societies or National States? Two basic approaches to the state clash in the making of the constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe. The ideals of a "civil" state presuppose liberal democratic institutions and universal principles of equal citizenship and individual liberties. In such a society the citizen's relation to the state does not turn on one's religion, nationality, ethnicity, or politics. The state is viewed essentially in atomistic terms. The competing principle is that of a "national" state -- not a nation as Americans define it, but a state founded upon the identity of a particular people or nation in the European sense. Defining the political community in terms of the nation in this latter sense invites the undermining of universal rights and democratic institutions. Clear examples may be drawn from the saddest of European arenas, the Balkans.17 To read some of that region's constitutions is to be taken one step closer to understanding the ideological underpinnings of "ethnic cleansing" or other evils. The Croatian Constitution, adopted in 1990, proclaims the CSCE ODIHR BULLETIN Vol. 2, No. 1 8