Minority Nationalism and the Changing International Order

Globalization and European integration are sometimes seen as the enemies of nationalism, sweeping away particularisms and imposing a single economic, cultural and political order. This book argues that, on the contrary, by challenging the "nation-state" as the sole basis for identity and sovereignty, these reforms open the way for a variety of claims by stateless nations. It is true that the late 20th-century has seen a strong recurrence of nationalist claims, in Europe and in other parts of the world. At the same time, however, globalization and European integration provide new ways of managing nationality claims. At one level, they lower the stakes in independence and might permit peaceful transitions to independence. Yet they may also make independence in the traditional sense less important and provide ways in which multiple and conflicting nationality claims could be accommodated in new political structures. The chapters in this collection consider these issues from a theoretical perspective and through case studies of stateless nationalisms in Western, Eastern and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union and Quebec.

The quality of all chapters is high, and the introduction by Keating and McGarry is stimulating and well informed. What is more, this is a volume that comprehensively covers what presently should be said about minority nationalism under conditions of globalization. In short: a book any scholar with an interest in these subjects is well advised to tell his/her librarian to purchase., ... insightful case studies ... This book is appropriate for a course in nationalism or comparative politics, and undergraduate students as well as seasoned scholars would find it of interest., Keating and McGarry have taken on an important subject and have assembled a range of able contributors to produce a valuable volume of theoretical examinations and case studies addressing the new (and old) dynamics of minority nationalism in the era of globalization ... this is a significant contribution to the study of ethnopolitics, which will have its use in advanced undergraduate and graduate teaching as well as in the debates among scholars and policy makers., Keating makes a number of important points with regard to the changing nature of the state in an international or regional framework in which the notion of sovereignty has radically changed.