Ethnic Diversity And The Nation State

This book explores a largely forgotten legacy of multicultural political thought and practice from within Eastern Europe and examines its relevance to post-Cold War debates on state and nationhood. Featuring a Preface by former UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke, it weaves theory and practice to challenge established understandings of the nation state. Eastern Europe is still too often viewed through the prism of ethnic conflict, which overlooks the region’s positive contribution to modern debates on the political management of ethno-cultural diversity, and towards the construction of a united Europe ‘beyond the nation-state’. Based on extensive archival research in Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Russia, as well as the League of Nations Archive in Geneva, this book explores this neglected multicultural legacy and assesses its significance in the post-Cold War era, which has seen the reappearance of national cultural autonomy laws in several states of Eastern Europe. Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State is invaluable reading for students and scholars of political science, history, sociology and European studies, and also for policy makers and others interested in minority rights and ethnic conflict regulation.

Ethnic diversity is on increase in Europe; at the same time, there is evidence of growing anti-immigrant feeling in some countries, such as Spain (especially in the Southern provinces). In order to build a politically united and democratic Europe, the accommodation of ethnic diversity and the integration of ethnic minorities are both key challenges. This book tries to explain ethnic problems in Europe.

With the processes of globalization, we are more than ever confronted with the paradoxes inherent in modern statehood. The characteristics of modern statehood are: (1) securing freedom from feudal oppression or despotism, (2) legislating for equality among citizens, (3) focusing on inclusion to incorporate the previously excluded into the system and finally (4), of the utmost importance, establishing the principle of individualism as a primary goal. The social construct of ethnicity gives rise to a second paradox. It develops as a material force if and when it grips the masses. Logically, any such construct as ethnicity is exclusive to the extent on which it depends on otherness. The erection of hegemonic structures to deal with these issues and also with the confrontation of shifting borders is at the core of this book.

The author deals with the problem in political theory of how modern nation states must be structured in order to realise the two separate goals of equality of opportunity and the recognition of cultural diversity between groups. Subsequent chapters argue against a number of West European critics for a society of this type and the concept of multiculturalism is developed as it is applied in other contexts in Eastern Europe and North America.

Asks whether there are lessons to be drawn for contemporary multi-ethnic societies from the experience of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in its last decades. Also asks if ideas about the state/nation relationship from that period of Austrian Social Democracy can have applicability today.

Why was there such a far-reaching consensus concerning the utopian goal of national homogeneity in the first half of the twentieth century? Ethnic cleansing is analyzed here as a result of the formation of democratic nation-states, the international order based on them, and European modernity in general. Almost all mass-scale population removals were rationally and precisely organized and carried out in cold blood, with revenge, hatred and other strong emotions playing only a minor role. This book not only considers the majority of population removals which occurred in Eastern Europe, but is also an encompassing, comparative study including Western Europe, interrogating the motivations of Western statesmen and their involvement in large-scale population removals. It also reaches beyond the European continent and considers the reverberations of colonial rule and ethnic cleansing in the former British colonies.

Using original research by a number of highly regarded specialists, this book brings together comparative materials and distinct disciplinary approaches on the origins and dynamics of ethnic conflicts, ethnic policies of nation states, and different attempts to contain, transform and resolve ethnic conflicts. It is one of the results of a research project on ethnic conflicts and development undertaken by the United Nations Research Institute on Social Development. Includes material on Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, the former socialist countries, the United States, and Latin America.