The Fate of the Nation State

by Seymour, Michel

• ISBN13: 9780773526853
• ISBN10: 0773526854
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ

Summary

Are Nation-states obsolete? Are multination states viable? Can we really create powerful supranational institutions? These are the questions that celebrated authors and specialists attempt to answer in this important collection of articles. The work contains theoretical essays and case studies by philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and governmental analysts that provide state of the art analyses of the situation of the nation-state as it is developing all over the world in the new millennium.There are different concepts of nationhood and different forms of national consciousness: ethnic, civic, cultural, socio-political and diasporic. There are also different ways for nations to be present on any given territory; as immigrant groups, as extensions of neighbouring national majorities, as minority nations or as majority nations. There are also different policies adopted toward different groups: bilingualism, multiculturalism, interculturalism, collective rights, etc. Finally, there are different sorts of political arrangements: nation-state, multination state, confederation of sovereign states, multinational federation, federation of nation-states, supranational institutions, etc. The enormous complexity of these issues explain why nations, nationalism and nation-states have been so difficult to understand.The theoretical essays contained in this volume are sensitive to all those issues. The authors examine the foundations of nationalist thinking and the justifications behind the nation-state model. They also reflect upon the nation building policies, politics of recognition and issues related to globalization. The case studies investigate countries or regions such as Ireland, Scotland, Catalonia, the Balkans, Russia, USA, Finland, India, Indonesia, the European Union and Canada.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Theories and Practices	3	(16)
Michel Seymour
PART ONE: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: NATIONAL, MULTINATIONAL, SUPRANATIONAL
Sleeping Dogs, Prowling Cats, and Soaring Doves: Three Paradoxes of Nationhood	19	(19)
Margaret Canovan
Is Modernity Possible without Nationalism?	38	(13)
Liah Greenfeld
Four Kinds of (Post-)nation-building	51	(18)
Daniel Weinstock
Nationalism and Global Democracy: Between the Myth of Community and the Mirage of the Global Village	69	(21)
Jocelyne Couture
The Nation-state and Aboriginal Self-determination	90	(15)
Ross Poole
Collective Rights in Multi-nation States: From Ethical Individualism to the Law of Peoples	105	(25)
Michel Seymour
The Complementarity of Rights: Rawls and Habermas on International Justice for Individuals and Groups	130	(23)
David Ingram
Are Nation-states Obsolete? The Challenge of Globalization	153	(20)
Kai Nielsen
Global Decency	173	(8)
Avishai Margalit
PART TWO: CASE STUDIES MULTINATIONAL SOCIETIES AND NATION-STATES
Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?	181	(13)
Matthew Evangelista
Civic Nationalism and the Northern Ireland Conflict	194	(20)
John McGarry
Understanding the Nation: The Scottish Question	214	(20)
David McCrone
Catalonia: A Non-secessionist Nationalism?	234	(13)
Montserrat Guibernau
Settling Partition Hostilities: Lessons Learned, Options Ahead	247	(24)
Radha Kumar
Understanding Indigenous Nationalism	271	(24)
Michael Murphy
Linguistic Rights for U.S. Hispanics	295	(15)
Thomas W. Pogge
The Status of Finland's Swedish National Minority: Exemplary - but for Whom?	310	(17)
Henry Milner
The Majority-minority Syndrome and Muslim Personal Law in India	327	(30)
Rajeev Bhargava
Ethnicity, Migration, and Statehood in Post-Cold War Europe	357	(18)
Rogers Brubaker
The Future of Indonesia	375	(15)
Benedict Anderson
The Future of the Nation-state and Quebec-Canada Relations	390	(13)
Kenneth McRoberts
Conclusion: The Rights and Obligations of Persons and Nations	403	(10)
Michel Seymour
Contributors	413	(6)
Index	419