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Does the state have a characteristic role in the lives of its subjects, assuming officials are not utterly corrupt? And is that role consistent with its being a potential force for justice? The question is important if, as realists hold, the state is ineliminable. The paper sketches a genealogical way of approaching the issue and gestures at an answer: that whether it is actually just or not, the state's role is to entrench laws that give at least an elite citizenry a range of rights, however limited. This fits with Kant's notion of the civil as distinct from the rightful condition: the ideal of statehood as distinct from justice., Author(s): Philip Pettit [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.16750.35, 0000 0001 2097 5006, Princeton University, , Princeton, USA (2) grid.1001.0, 0000 0001 2180 7477, Australia National University, , Canberra, Australia [...]

Introduction In the late 1980s, Latvia, a tiny republic in the northwest corner of the former Soviet Union (USSR), seeing a window of opportunity provided by the policy of glasnost, [...]

Abstract: This article briefly summarizes what the post-Soviet experience teaches us about nationalism, understood here as claims that a population constitutes a people that should have a sovereign state of [...]

This paper reflects on the project of the nation and nation-ness in postcol onial Africa with specific attention to the two plays by the anglophone Cameroonian playwright Bole Butake. The [...]

Introduction This article will offer an assessment of the Quebec govemment's relations with the fifty U.S. states. The topic is important for a number of reasons. First, if highlights the [...]

The current academic and legal campaign to constitutionalize Israel as a state that is both 'Jewish and democratic' amounts to an act of national self-deception, rooted in the collective inability or unwillingness to accept that discriminatory policies toward the non-Jewish minority contradict democratic processes, on the part of that country's Jewish majority. The author addresses the recent efforts to create an Israeli constitution by the consent of the Jewish majority that would legitimatize the denial of equal citizenship rights for non-Jewish citizens. Because Israeli Jews have constructed opposition to the 'Jewish and democratic' model as 'extremism,' Palestinian citizens of Israel are forced to limit their resistance to passive rejection of the concept, refusing to acquiesce in their own subordination and denying moral legitimacy to the system that discriminates against them.

A comparison is presented on two different paths to democratization, self-determination, or the splitting of a unified country into several separate countries such as the former Soviet Union, and unification, or the bringing together of separate but similar countries, such as Germany. The author also examines internal divisiveness, such as Canada, and evaluates win-win, win-lose and zero-sum typologies for assessing levels of democratization.

In the 1990s, efforts to operationalize sustainable development have been led by Western ecological economists, utilizing Capital Theory. This conceptual work has largely ignored indigenous peoples' efforts to achieve self-determination and embark on development initiatives of their own. This paper argues that these grassroots initiatives have drawn on residual stocks of social/cultural capital for their impetus, and provide useful insights into problems of conceiving and operationalizing 'sustainable development.' Indigenous nations often espouse holistic frameworks broader than sustainable development models. They have had to address issues such as creating alternative governance structures, and how to incorporate holistic values into tribal development without jeopardizing business operations. Key words: Pacific, New Zealand, indigenous, sustainable development, self-determination, holistic development

Taiwan exists in the international arena as a fully independent state in form, but it has never declared itself independent. Taiwan's reticence to take this step is caused by the People's Republic of China's claim that Taiwan is a "renegade province" of China. In this Note, Christopher Carolan argues that an international law-based solution should be applied to determine whether Taiwan has a legitimate aspiration to declare independence. This approach takes into account the history of Taiwan-China relations, which shows that - except for brief periods - Taiwan has long had a separate political existence apart from China. Carolan contrasts the claim that Taiwan properly belongs to China because of shared ethnic and cultural ties with post-World War II events that have created in the Taiwanese a strong, predominant preference for continued separation from China. He argues that international law is an effective means to settle international disputes objectively, especially as compared to alternatives rooted not in justice but in power. Finally, he takes account of international law on self-determination and statehood to show that by these standards, Taiwan already exists as a de facto independent state.

The right of ethnic Albanians to claim autonomy for Kosovo, Yugoslavia ignores the historical realities of the territory's history . As late as 1920, Serbians made up over half of the population in Kosovo, becoming the minority group only because Albanians had a higher birth rate. In the 1990s, Kosovo's Albanian population has risen sharply, mainly because of unchecked immigration from the neighboring country of Albania. Given Kosovo's demographic history, the US government would be advised to move carefully before recognizing any claims to autonomy made by ethnic Albanians.

This paper argues in favour of a conception of self-determination which involves the equal recognition of different national identities. It proceeds by, first, criticizing the dominant territorial (in contrast to national) conception of self-determination. It then addresses three main criticisms of a principle of national self-determination. These are (1) the argument from indeterminacy; (2) the argument from instability; (3) the problem of overlapping nationalities.

Canada's multicultural society is experiencing radical changes as Quebec Province is determined in leaving Confederation. This independence movement among French-speaking Quebecois is producing a new form of nationalism, one that often embodies a hostile and isolationist approach in pursuit of political, social and economic recognition. This new nationalism, along with multiculturalism, is affecting Canada's national identity as more people are unsure about their roots. These unexpected changes that have taken place in Canada have raised many questions about the country's future.

Reading Michael Ignatieff's Blood and Belonging and Myrna Kostash's Bloodlines as intercultural translations of the same 'originals,' the European sites both authors visit and write about, this article examines the differences characterizing these two authors' practice of cultural criticism. Self-referentiality, the articulation of methodology, the dramatization of strategies of representation, narrative techniques - all these reflect the politics involved in intercultural translation.

The right to self-determination is a potent and paradoxical political concept. It is associated with democracy, xenophobia and anarchy. Its explosive potential was more or less held in check during the Cold War by an international consensus that restricted it to the context of decolonization. The unravelling of the Soviet Union and the break-up of Yugoslavia have demonstrated the inadequacy of the available theory and practice. Various recent approaches to self-determination are reviewed. These may be roughly classified as realist, liberal and communitarian. Although no approach is wholly satisfactory, the key issues can now be more clearly stated, an emerging consensus identified, and the agenda for further theoretical work proposed.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union has resulted into the formation of new sovereign states either through secession or unification. National unity became a major political issue in the German unification process and this was intensified by its rapidity. Korea faces a similar situation and may draw lessons from Germany. However, the perception of similarity must be informed by two major points. First, the starting points of unification are disparate and, second, cultural differences impact the concept of how the national state relates to democracy.

Tension between critical mentality and affinity for democracy influence critics to differ on the ways to define nationalism. Rosa Luxemburg's effort to define nationalism in the light of Marxist theory of class and unity of modern nation-state is politically paralyzing as it offers nationalism and modernity as the two opposing forces. Tom Nairn, Benedict Anderson and Ernest Gellner feel that the national idea fails to correspond to the reality of the nation. Gellner discusses nationalism in terms of industrialization, Nairn as a global capitalist development and Anderson as a new idea of community.

The collapse of Yugoslavia provided the first instance of state dissolution in Europe since World War II. International organizations had little to guide their responses to the crisis. In measuring the rival claims of state integrity and of self-determination of peoples, international bodies followed the uti possidetis principle deriving from the period of decolonization. Once the dissolution of the state was pronounced, its internal boundaries assumed the character of international ones. The Badinter Committee, appointed to assist arbitration between the parties to the conflict, additionally made a demonstrable act of self-determination a precondition for the recognition of new states. As a consequence of its deliberations, the Badinter Committee may have provided not only a method of regulating state-succession but also a mechanism for accomplishing state disintegration, particularly in the case of federations. Additionally, by assuming that the population of the sub-unit is possessed of the right of self-determination in the event of state dissolution, the Badinter Committee may have inadvertently extended the definition of 'people' to include all groups dwelling within legally defined territories. Keywords: Self-determination; Yugoslavia; Badinter; state-integrity; state-dissolution; state-recognition.

This article examines the rhetoric of self-determination movements. Note is taken of the increase in media coverage of resulting conflicts in Eastern Europe and the subsequent pressure on academics to comment on them. Observations are made on how leaders of self-determination movements assert a collective identity for their designated 'unit' which they describe variously according to goal orientation, as 'people' or 'nation' or other. The most crucial task has usually been to demonstrate its uniqueness. Contested identities with their neighbours often involve territorial claims as a result of globalization where disputes only acquire legitimacy for United Nations [UN] involvement when they are territorially expressed. UN recognition is the ultimate accolade for 'separatist' movements and so much of the public local discourse is couched in UN compatible terminology. Having established a collective identity the discourse moves towards legitimizing the exclusion of certain groups from power-braking and decision-making. The case of the Chechens seeking separation from Russia is one of the examples given. The main conclusion is that the argument of self-determination moves along a continuum between collectivity and exclusion. Keywords: Self-determination; ethnic conflict; separatism; political discourse; collectivity; exclusion politics.