A stateless nation is an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own sovereign state.[1] The term "stateless" implies that the group has the right to self-determination, to establish an independent nation with its own government.[2][3] Members of stateless nations may be citizens of the country in which they live, or they may be denied citizenship by that country. Stateless nations are usually not represented in international sports or in international organisations such as the United Nations. Nations without a state are classified as fourth-world nations.[4][5][6] Some stateless nations have a history of statehood, while some were always stateless.
The term was coined in 1983 by political scientist Jacques Leruez in his book L'Écosse, une nation sans État about the peculiar position of Scotland within the British state. It was later adopted and popularized by Scottish scholars such as David McCrone, Michael Keating and T. M. Devine.[7]
Stateless nations either are dispersed across a number of states (for example, the Yoruba people found in the African states of Nigeria, Benin and Togo) or form the native population of a province within a larger state (such as the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region within the People's Republic of China). Some stateless nations historically had a state, which was absorbed by another; for example, Tibet's declaration of independence in 1913 was not recognized and it was reunited in 1951 by the People's Republic of China - which claims that Tibet is an integral part of China, while the Tibetan government-in-exile maintains that Tibet is an independent state under an unlawful occupation.[8][9] Some ethnic groups were once a stateless nation that later became a nation state (for example, the nations of the Balkans such as the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins and Macedonians that were once part of the multinational state of Yugoslavia and gained independence during the breakup of Yugoslavia).
Stateless nations can have large populations; for example the Kurds have an estimated population of over 30 million people, which makes them one of the largest stateless nations.[10] Multiple stateless nations can reside in the same geographical region or country; for example, the Tuareg, Toubou, Rifians, and Kabyle in North Africa, the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine, Rohingya, and Shan in Myanmar, the Galicians, Cantabrians, Asturians, Aragonese, Basques, Catalans, Valencians, and Andalusians in Spain, and the Sardinians, Friulians, Ladins, Sicilians, Neapolitans, Ligurians, Piedmontese, Venetians and Lombards in Italy. [11]
Nation-states and nations without states
The symbiotic relationship between nations and states arose in Western Europe during the 18th century and it was exported to the rest of the world through colonial rule. Whereas the Western European nation-states are at present relinquishing some of their powers to the European Union, many of the former colonies are now the zealous defenders of the concept of national statehood.[3] However, not all peoples within multi-cultural states have the same awareness of being a stateless nation. As not all states are nation states, there are ethnic groups who live in multinational states that are not considered "stateless nations".
Only a small fraction of the world's national groups have associated nation states; the rest are distributed in one or more states. While there are over 3000 estimated nations in the world, there were only 193 member states of the United Nations as of 2011, of which fewer than 20 are considered to be ethnically homogeneous nation states. Thus nation states are not as common as often assumed, and stateless nations are the overwhelming majority of nations in the world.[3]
Consequences of colonialism and imperialism
During the imperial and colonial era, powerful nations extended their influence outside their homeland; resulting in many colonized nations ceasing to be self-governing and being described as stateless nations thereafter.[12] Some nations have been victims of "carve-outs" that left their homeland divided among several countries. Even today, the colonial boundaries form modern national boundaries. These boundaries often differ from cultural boundaries which results in situations wherein people who speak the same language or have the same culture are divided by national borders; for example, New Guinea is split into the regions of West Papua (a former Dutch colony) and Papua New Guinea (a former Australian colony).[13] During decolonization, the colonial powers imposed a unified state structure irrespective of the ethnic differences and granted independence to their colonies as a multinational state. This led to successor states with many minority ethnic groups in them, which increased the potential for ethnic conflicts.[14][15][16][17] Some of these minority groups campaigned for self-determination. Stateless nations were not protected in all countries and as a result, they became victims of atrocities such as discrimination, ethnic cleansing, genocide, forced assimilation, and the exploitation of labor and natural resources.[18][19]
Nationalism and stateless nations
People with a common origin, history, language, culture, customs, or religion can turn into a nation through the awakening of national consciousness.[20] A nation can exist without a state, as is exemplified by the stateless nations. Citizenship is not always the nationality of a person.[21] In a multinational state different national identities can coexist or compete: for example, in Britain English nationalism, Scottish nationalism, and Welsh nationalism exist and are held together by British nationalism.[22] Nationalism is often connected to separatism because a nation is considered to achieve completeness through its independence.[23]
Throughout history, numerous nations declared their independence, but not all succeeded in establishing a state. Even today, there are active autonomy and independence movements around the world. The claim of the stateless nations to self-determination is often denied due to geopolitical interests and increasing globalization of the world.[24][25][26][27] Stateless nations sometimes show solidarity with other stateless nations and maintain diplomatic relations.[28][29]
Unionism vs separatism
Not all ethnic groups claim to be a nation or aspire to be a separate state. Some of them see themselves as part of the multinational state they are located in and believe that their interests are well represented in it. The favoring of a united single state is associated with unionism (such as Pakistani nationalism, Indian nationalism, Indonesian nationalism, Chinese nationalism,[30] British nationalism, Spanish nationalism, and Russian nationalism). In many countries, unionism is also encouraged by governments and separatism is considered illegal.
Claims by stateless nations and ethnic groups with autonomous status
The following is a list of ethnic and national groups where there exist notable independence movements as evidenced by standalone Wikipedia articles.
States made bold under the "homeland" column are countries of the respective ethnic groups which are native to them and still host the majority (more than half) of their population.
Formerly stateless nations
Some stateless nations have achieved their own independent state. Examples include Greeks before the Greek War of Independence,[103] Irish people before the Irish War of Independence, and Bengalis before the Bangladesh Liberation War.[104]
Some would include the Jews until the 1948 Israeli declaration of independence,[105] however whether Jews constitute a single nation is debated.[106][107]
During the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia, several ethnic groups gained their own sovereign state.[108]
See also
- Diaspora
- Ethnic nationalism
- European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
- Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
- List of active autonomist and secessionist movements
- List of federally recognized tribes
- List of First Nations peoples
- List of unrecognized tribes in the United States
- Multinational state
- Non-FIFA international football
- Self-determination
- Sovereignty
- Stateless person
- Stateless society
- Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Notes
References
- ↑ Dictionary Of Public Administration, U.C. Mandal, Sarup & Sons 2007, 505 p.
- ↑ Osborne, Louise; Russell, Ruby (27 December 2015). "Stateless in Europe: 'We are no people with no nation'". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
- 1 2 3 Chouinard, Stéphanie (2016), "Stateless nations", in Karl Cordell; Stefan Wolff (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Ethnic Conflict, Routledge, pp. 54–66, ISBN 9781317518921
- ↑ David Newman, Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity
- ↑ Ethnic Minority Media: An International Perspective, Stephen Harold Riggins, 217p.
- ↑ Language in Geographic Context, Colin H. Williams, 39p.
- ↑ Verdugo, Richard R.; Milne, Andrew (1 June 2016). National Identity: Theory and Research. IAP. p. 85. ISBN 9781681235257. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Clark, Gregory, In fear of China, 1969, saying: "Tibet, although enjoying independence at certain periods of its history, had never been recognised by any single foreign power as an independent state. The closest it has ever come to such recognition was the British formula of 1943: suzerainty, combined with autonomy and the right to enter into diplomatic relations."
- ↑ "The Legal Status of Tibet". Cultural Survival. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- ↑ "Who are the Kurds?". TRT World. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, pp. 59–60, 79–80, 366–367
- ↑ Redie Bereketeab, Self-Determination and Secession in Africa: The Post-Colonial State
- ↑ Richard Devetak, Christopher W. Hughes, Routledge, 2007-12-18, The Globalization of Political Violence: Globalization's Shadow
- ↑ Cultural Analysis: Towards Cross-cultural Understanding (2006), Hans Gullestrup, 130p.
- ↑ Ethnicity and Christian leadership in west African sub-region: proceedings of the conference of the fifteenth CIWA Theology Week held at the Catholic Institute of West Africa (2004), Port Harcourt, p.272
- ↑ Mussolini Warlord: Failed Dreams of Empire, 1940–1943 (2013), H. James Burgwyn, Chapter V
- ↑ Ethnic Groups in Conflict (2009), Karl Cordell, Stefan Wolff
- ↑ Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict
- ↑ Bruce E. Johansen, Resource Exploitation in Native North America: A Plague upon the Peoples
- ↑ George W. White, Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe
- ↑ Understanding National Identity by David McCrone, Frank Bechhofer, p.22
- ↑ Unionist-Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830–1860 by Graeme Morton, 1999
- ↑ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C
- ↑ Nationalism and Globalisation (2015), Stephen Tierney
- ↑ The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka: The Global Failure to Protect Tamil Rights Under International Law, Francis Boyle, chapter self determination.
- ↑ Turmoil in the Middle East: Imperialism, War, and Political Instability (1999), Berch Berberoglu, 69p.
- ↑ "Europe's Stateless Nations in the Era of Globalization, The Case for Catalonia's Secession by Josep Desquens". saisjournal.org. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ↑ The delegates were linked with the Scottish group 'SNP Friends of Catalonia', which itself had members recently visit the Catalan parliament in Barcelona in a show of solidarity to the country's hopes of self-determination. "Catalan delegates in solidarity visit to Scotland's independence movement". commonspace.scot. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ↑ The Catalan President and the Head of the Corsican government meet in Barcelona. The meeting lasted more than two hours and focused on enhancing the cooperation between the two nations in a regional and European level. "EFA brings stateless nations even closer". European Free Alliance. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
- ↑ Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today p.73
- ↑ India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil crisis, 1976-1994: an international perspective (1995), Alan J. Bullion, p.32.
- ↑ Governance and Multiculturalism: The White Elephant of Social Construction, Catherine Koerner, Soma Pillay, p.44.
- ↑ David Brog (2017), Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace, Regnery Publishing, ISBN 9781621576099
- ↑ Jeffrey Haynes, Peter Hough, Shahin Malik, Lloyd Pettiford (2013), World Politics: International Relations and Globalisation in the 21st Century, Routledge, ISBN 9781317862963
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Religious Nationalism: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook, Atalia Omer, Jason A. Springs (2013)
- ↑ Xu, Song-shi (1939). "Cantonese is the old name of the pearl river". Chung Hwa Book Company.
- ↑ Xu, Song-shi (1949). "A study of the Thais, Chuangs, and the Cantonese people". Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
- ↑ "Afghanistan population: 30,419,928 (July 2012 est.) [Pashtun 42%] = 12,776,369". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Archived from the original on 26 July 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
- ↑ Lewis, Paul M. (2009). "Pashto, Northern". SIL International. Dallas, Texas: Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
Ethnic population: 49,529,000 possibly total Pashto in all countries.
- 1 2 Quam, Joel; Campbell, Scott (31 August 2020), "Political Geography", The Western World: Daily Readings on Geography, College of DuPage Digital Press, archived from the original on 10 August 2021, retrieved 10 August 2021
- ↑ "Kurd | History, Culture, & Language". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ↑ "Road fatalities". doi:10.1787/862382573233. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
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(help) - ↑ Kirişci, Kemal; Winrow, Gareth (1997), The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of a Trans-state Ethnic Conflict, Rootledge
- ↑ Gow, G. (1 September 2004). "Translocations of Affirmation: Mediascapes and Cultural Flows among the Stateless Oromo". International Journal of Cultural Studies. SAGE Publications Ltd. 7 (3): 301–319. doi:10.1177/1367877904046304. ISSN 1367-8779. S2CID 145547845.
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ethiopia/
- ↑ "Benue-Congo languages". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
- ↑ John A. Shoup III, Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia 2011 p.237
- ↑ Aro, G. C., Ani, K. J. (December 2017). "A Historical Review of Igbo Nationalism in the Nigerian Political Space". Journal of African Union Studies. Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd. 6 (2/3): 47–77. doi:10.31920/2050-4306/2017/v6n2_3a2. ISSN 2050-4292.
- ↑ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World 2016 p.178
- ↑ "United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) - Terrorist Group of Assam". Satp.org. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ↑ "India's Treacherous Northeast". Yaleglobal.yale.edu. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ↑ "Banned Organizations | Ministry of Home Affairs | GoI". mha.gov.in. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- ↑ Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
- ↑ The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Archived 2018-09-05 at the Wayback Machine, the vanguard of national liberation struggle in Assam, was formed on 7 April 1979 to bear the historic responsibility of spearheading the armed democratic struggle with the ultimate aim of establishing an independent socialist sovereign Assam.
- ↑ "On Statehood: Xinjiang Autonomy and Its Enemies", Brown Political Review, Brown University, 2018, retrieved 9 April 2023
- ↑ "The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)", Council on Foreign Relations, retrieved 9 April 2023
- ↑ "About Uyghurs | Uyghur American Association". uyghuramerican.org. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ↑ Bhanoo, Sindya N. (10 December 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
- ↑ Joseph Zajda, Karen Biraimah, William Gaudelli, Education and Social Inequality in the Global Culture 2008 p.59
- ↑ Hancock, Ian F. (2002). We are the Romani People. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN 978-1-902806-19-8.
- ↑ Syed Farooq Hasnat, Pakistan 2011 p.82
- ↑ Keating, Michael (2001), Nations Against the State: The New Politics of Nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland (Second ed.), Palgrave
- 1 2 3 4 Fiend, Julius (2012), Stateless Nations: Western European Regional Nationalisms and the Old Nations, Palgrave
- ↑ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z 2002 p.402
- ↑ Keating, Michael (2001), Nations Against the State: The New Politics of Nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland (Second ed.), Palgrave
- ↑ Undergrad (2014). "Hong Kong Nationalism". Hong Kong University Students' Union. ISBN 9789881363107.
- ↑ Leung, Hin-wah (2016). "Hong Kong independence". Hong Kong Academy of Professional Studies. ISBN 9789881483027.
- ↑ Tsui, Sing-yan (2017). "A national history of Hong Kong". Rive Gauche Publishing House. ISBN 9789869800662.
- ↑ "Mid-year population for 2023" (Press release). Census and Statistics Department. 15 August 2023.
- ↑ James B. Minahan, Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World 2016 p.422
- ↑ James B. Minahan, Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World 2016 p.352
- ↑ "The Kabyle People". Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ↑ "Iran". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
- ↑ James B. Minahan, Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World 2016 p.13
- ↑ Richmond, Walter (9 April 2013). The Circassian Genocide. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-6069-4. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ↑ "Interactivo: Creencias y prácticas religiosas en España". La Vanguardia. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
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- ↑ Aris Ananta, Evi Nurvidya Arifin, International Migration in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2004, p.267
- ↑ "UNPO: Assyria". Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
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- ↑ Larry Clark. Turkmen Reference Grammar. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998; p. 11. ISBN 9783447040198
- ↑ James B. Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z 2002 p.870
- ↑ "Aragonese in Spain". joshuaproject.net. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ↑ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations
- ↑ "Eurominority – La solidarité avec le peuple palestinien". Archived from the original on 23 June 2006.
- ↑ Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations, James Minahan, pg. 1661
- ↑ Mikael Bodlore-Penlaez (2011). Atlas of Stateless Nations in Europe : Minority People in Search of Recognition. Y Lolfa Cyf. pp. 70. ISBN 978-1847713797.
- ↑ "La Sardegna nel club delle nazioni: un capitolo nella Bibbia dell'etnie del mondo – Cronaca – L'Unione Sarda.it". 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ↑ "The Amazing Ryukyu Culture". kcpwindowonjapan.com. 5 May 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ↑ Christopher Blomquist, A Primary Source Guide to Chile 2005 p.15
- ↑ James Stuart Olson, The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary 1996 p.183
- ↑ Pina Cabral; João de; Nelson Lourenço (1993). "Em Terra de Tufões: Dinâmicas da Etnicidade Macaense". Instituto Cultural de Macau. ISBN 978-9723501391.
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(help) - ↑ "Cham". Minority Rights Group. 19 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ↑ The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010
- ↑ Sámi people (14 December 2015). "Sámi in Sweden". sweden.se. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
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- ↑ McClure, J. Derrick; Szatek-Tudor, Karoline; Penna, Rosa E. (13 September 2010). "What Countrey's This? And Whither Are We Gone?": Papers presented at the Twelfth International Conference on the Literature of Region and Nation (Aberdeen University, 30th July – 2nd August 2008). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-4438-2520-7. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
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- ↑ Zeitlin, Solomon (1936). "The Jews: Race, Nation or Religion: Which? A Study Based on the Literature of the Second Jewish Commonwealth". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 26 (4): 343. doi:10.2307/1452094. JSTOR 1452094. Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ↑ "Is 'Jewish' a Nationality or Religion? Inside Israel's Fierce, Bitter Debate About Identity". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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