What Next for Stateless Nations?

Abstract

In recent years, stateless nations have re-emerged to contest the distribution of power within established nation-states, using the language of democracy and self-determination in articulating the right to decide and the desire to exercise self-government. In Europe, official and unofficial referendums on independence have challenged the territorial integrity of nation-states, and nationalist parties have used the opportunities of political office to advance their self-government goals. Elsewhere, territorially-based pro-democracy movements have emerged to challenge the legitimacy of the state’s right to govern, though often without effectively channeling these demands through the party system. All of these cases are being articulated within the context of growing interdependence between states, where even established nation-states face constraints on their capacity to exercise self-government. This panel represents an opportunity to identify the dynamics of self-government within the context of national interdependencies. It will include in-depth analysis from individual cases, with a view to identifying the commonalities and differences across cases. In particular, the papers will seek to establish whether the goals of stateless nations seeking greater self-government are conceptually similar, whether European stateless nationalisms are distinctive from claims to national self-determination in other parts of the world, and how these goals are shaped by the external national and international environment.

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