Governing Partially Independent Nation-Territories

Protections against the threat of being absorbed within the nation-state are not sufficient under majority rule in a unitary state. In certain instances, regional parties have moved from protest parties to positions of power, becoming mainstream parties. Our study examines how nation territories operate in Scotland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Åland Islands. Before winning the de jure status of entrenched self-governments, each nation territory was de facto a distinct region. Rather than abiding by established procedure for forming federations, each region strived for a light separation from the unitary state of which they were an integral part. Borders between states are artificial, and certain borders conform better with a homogeneous population in terms of language and culture. If a border meets the linguistic and cultural needs of a local population, then a unitary state model is the best solution for successful government. However, in our four cases the language and culture of the region clearly deviated from the national norm. The unitary state model encourages the birth of a nation-state that enhances the difference of a de facto region with a different language or cultural community.