National self-determination

National self-determination. Unlike other social groups, nations seek the right to govern themselves and decide their own future. They want recognition by the international community as a distinct political entity or state. Such claims usually come from people who have lived on a land for a long time and share a sense of identity; sometimes they also want a state in which their culture is protected or privileged.

'One culture, one state'. This idea gained acceptance in 19th-century Europe, and was used to redraw borders after World War I through the Treaty of Versailles, which created several small new states. The results were painful:

• It proved impossible to satisfy all demands for self-determination.
• Redrawing borders led to mass migration: millions were displaced and expelled from lands where they had lived for generations, and many became victims of communal violence.
• Even then, the new states did not contain only one ethnic community. Most had minorities, often small and disadvantaged, so the problem of treating minorities as equal citizens remained.
• The one positive outcome was political recognition for groups who saw themselves as distinct nations.

Anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa also claimed self-determination, believing independence would bring dignity, recognition, justice, rights and prosperity. But here too, not every cultural group could gain statehood; migration, border wars and violence have continued. Paradoxically, states that won independence through struggle now face minorities within them claiming self-determination.

A new answer. Almost every state faces this dilemma. Increasingly, people see that the solution lies not in creating new states but in making existing states more democratic and equal, so that people of different cultural and ethnic identities can live as partners and equal citizens. A state that does not respect minorities' rights and identities will struggle to win their loyalty.

• The book's case study of the Basque region of Spain illustrates the debate. It is recognised as an autonomous region, but some Basque nationalists want a separate country, citing a distinct language, terrain and history of self-rule, and past repression under the dictator Franco (who banned the Basque language in public places). Opponents say the issue has already been resolved through autonomy.
• Granting independent statehood to every group that sees itself as a nation would be impossible, and probably undesirable: it could create many states too small to be viable and multiply minority problems. So the right is now often reinterpreted as democratic rights for a nationality within a state.
• Example (new): a country that lets a region with its own language run its own schools, police and local taxes, while staying part of the country, is meeting self-determination claims without new borders.