This title was first published in 2000. Nationalism and the national question have represented a problem since the early years of the 19th century. Understanding these phenomena represents a challenge for political science, because "the nation" is not a natural phenomenon, rather it is the consequence of nationalism. Attempts to reduce nationalism to one or several factors have been unsuccessful; it has multiple factors that are variable in space and time. Nationalism is a problem of beliefs and conscience linked to the historical action of nationalist groups. A second difficulty derives from the distinction between nationalism of the dominant and nationalism of the oppressed. The majority of political theorists now believe that these centre and periphery nationalisms are different and therefore adversaries. Using first-hand experience of Basque separatism as a starting point, the author adds to it with the main manifestations of this phenomenon around the world.

This book offers a comparative survey of 18 contemporary peace processes conducted by leading international scholars. There is no standard model of peace processes and all will vary according to the context, type of conflict, timing, national and global economic climate, and factors like natural disasters. Therefore, making comparisons between peace processes is difficult, but it is beneficial – indeed, imperative – and is the principal motivation behind this volume. What works in one context may not work in another, but it can be modified and adapted to fit another context. The book is structured to maximise comparison between processes, and the case studies chosen are topical and span the major regions of the world. The concluding chapter systematically compares the case studies around 11 variables that cover the conflict context, peace process procedures, the responsiveness of the peace process to demands, and levels of participation and inclusion. Each peace process is then given a numeric score according to each of these variables, and the book thereby reaches judgements on whether each case can be termed a ‘success’ or a ‘failure’. This book will be essential reading for students of peace studies, conflict resolution, war and conflict studies, security studies, and IR.

IBSS is the essential tool for librarians, university departments, research institutions and any public or private institution whose work requires access to up-to-date and comprehensive knowledge of the social sciences.

The further evolution of the European Union is mainly dependent on how its citizens relate to their fellow Europeans speaking a score of languages and belonging to a variety of cultures. This book addresses the question of whether a new sense of collective self-identification, labeled “European identity,” a special form of socio-territorial identities, is emerging. Collective identities are works in progress, they entail a salient strategic—activist and future-oriented—dimension. Divergent strategic goals of the constituent groups induce a perpetual contestation and negotiation of the group identity, a process that in the case of the EU is intensified by the continuously changing boundaries and institutional structure of the super-polity. To confront these challenges, this book has a double focus. The first part weighs in on the feasibility of a European identity in light of what the two main paradigms in the field, primordialism and constructivism, can predict. The second part maps the social forces that are either favorable or inimical to the creation of a common social identity on the continent. Both parts develop hypotheses about the processes we witness, and test them with the available empirical data. Part II distinguishes between passive and active supporters of the integration project, besides the Euroskeptic segment of the public. Provision of public goods by regional integration is believed to explain passive permissiveness, while the main impetus for integration comes from those who may reap above-average benefits from it. This book contends that the groups of active supporters have historically been changing within the Union; namely, the political Left and Right are changing their roles in negotiating future developments. Yet the evolution of the EU is also shaped by the solutions adopted to accommodate ethnic and cultural diversity. The empirical tests involve opinion survey data taken from the Eurobarometer series, World Value and European Social Surveys, and the International Social Survey Programme, expert ratings, as well as party elite documents from the Manifesto Project Database.

The often violent emergence of new independent states following the end of the Cold War generated discussion about the normative grounds of territorial separatism. A number of opposing approaches surfaced debating whether and under which circumstances there is a right for a community to secede from its host country. Overwhelmingly, these studies placed emphasis on the right to secession and neglected the moral stance of secessionist movements as agents in international relations. In this book Costas Laoutides explores the collective moral agency involved in secessionist struggles offering a theoretical model for the collective responsibility of secessionist groups. Case-studies on the Kurds and the people of Moldova-Transdniestria illustrate the author’s theoretical arguments as he seeks to establish how, although the principle of self-determination was envisaged as a means of gradually bestowing political power upon the people, it never managed to realize its full potential because it was interpreted strictly within a framework of exclusionary politics of identity.

This book provides a theoretical and comparative analysis of federalism and federations in plurinational democracies, examining how states with distinct peoples and communities coexist (or not). Through a theoretical approach to democracy and federalism, and interdisciplinary analysis of plurinationality in state organization, including case studies of the UK, Russia, Canada, Belgium, India, Spain, Switzerland and Bolivia, this text assesses the possibilities and limits of federalism as a way to recognize and accommodate multinationalism in plurinational democracies. It evaluates a range of strategies used by states to support national, ethnic, linguistic or religious collectives in present-day liberal democracies. Leading scholars in the field evaluate the institutional and practical repercussions regarding the issue of recognition and accommodation of national minorities in a globalised world, through different theoretical perspectives to build up a detailed picture of problems and solutions to multinationalism. Looking both within and beyond the state, this is an invaluable examination of dilemmas and institutional challenges faced by many modern democracies. Federalism, Plurinationality and Democratic Constitutionalism will be of interest to students, researchers and scholars of democracy, nationalism, federalism and constitutionalism.

Communication and Learning in an Age of Digital Transformation provides cross-disciplinary perspectives on digitization as social transformation and its impact on communication and learning. This work presents openness within its interpretation of the digital and its impact on learning and communication, acknowledging historical contexts and contemporary implications emerging from discourse on digitization. The book presents a triangulation of different research perspectives. These perspectives, which range from digital resistance parks and cyber-religious questions to cultural-scientific media-theoretical reflections, point to the performative openness of the analysis. The book represents an interdisciplinary approach and opens a space for understanding the social complexity of digital transformations in teaching and learning. This book will be of great interest to academics, post graduate students and researchers in the field of digital learning, communication and education research.