Ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state
This article is about a nation lacking a nation state. For a community lacking a government, see Stateless society. For persons lacking state affiliation, see Statelessness.
A stateless nation is an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own sovereign state.[1] Use of the term implies that such ethnic groups has the right to self-determination, to establish an independent nation-state 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.
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]
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 consider themselves stateless nations. 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.[11] 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).[12] 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.[13][14][15][16] 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.[17][18]
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.[19] A nation can exist without a state, as is exemplified by the stateless nations. Citizenship is not always the nationality of a person.[20] In a multinational state different national identities can coexist or compete: for example, in BritainEnglish nationalism, Scottish nationalism, and Welsh nationalism exist and are held together by British nationalism.[21] Nationalism is often connected to separatism because a nation is considered to achieve completeness through its independence.[22]
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.[23][24][25][26] Stateless nations sometimes show solidarity with other stateless nations and maintain diplomatic relations.[27][28]
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, and Belgian nationalism) [citation needed]). In many countries, unionism is also encouraged by governments and separatism is considered illegal.
List of stateless nations
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.
Many groups seek for total independence from Italy, while some just want more autonomy and recognition of Venetian language and people. Historically occupied the independent Republic of Venice.
Afrikaners are historically an ethno-racial group (although some today deracialize the identity to include Afrikaans-speaking Coloured people). Demand autonomy or total secession from South Africa. Historically occupied the Dutch Cape colony but did expand elsewhere into the once independent Boer republics.
First appeared on maps around 100BC under Germanic tribes, later becoming Polish under Mieszko the 1st at around 1000AD and moving between The Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, Germany, Czechia and Poland for the next 1000 years but were strongly Polonized due to heavy restrictions from Poland in the 20th Century further, forming separatist organizations could land you jailed for 25 Years.
Historically occupied the Kingdom of Champa. The Cham in Vietnam are only recognized as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government their indigeneity to the region.
↑ Can also help with understanding the cultural/ethnic proximity with other people of that paternal language group, but not necessarily. The largest language family is not recommended, as a large number of cells would contain similar content.
Irredentism is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent state. Historical reasons may also be responsible, i.e., that the territory previously formed part of the parent state. However, difficulties in applying the concept to concrete cases have given rise to academic debates about its precise definition. Disagreements concern whether either or both ethnic and historical reasons have to be present and whether non-state actors can also engage in irredentism. A further dispute is whether attempts to absorb a full neighboring state are also included. There are various types of irredentism. For typical forms of irredentism, the parent state already exists before the territorial conflict with a neighboring state arises. However, there are also forms of irredentism in which the parent state is newly created by uniting an ethnic group spread across several countries. Another distinction concerns whether the country to which the disputed territory currently belongs is a regular state, a former colony, or a collapsed state.
A nation-state is a political unit where the state, a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory, and the nation, a community based on a common identity, are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant national or ethnic group.
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining its sovereignty (self-governance) over its perceived homeland to create a nation-state. It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity, and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power. It further aims to build and maintain a single national identity, based on a combination of shared social characteristics such as culture, ethnicity, geographic location, language, politics, religion, traditions and belief in a shared singular history, and to promote national unity or solidarity. There are various definitions of a "nation", which leads to different types of nationalism. The two main divergent forms are ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism.
A nation is a type of social organization where a collective identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, territory or society. Some nations are constructed around ethnicity while others are bound by political constitutions.
Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include a people of a common language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment. The term ethnicity is often used interchangeably with the term nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism.
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greater autonomy are usually not considered separatists. Some discourse settings equate separatism with religious segregation, racial segregation, or sex segregation, while other discourse settings take the broader view that separation by choice may serve useful purposes and is not the same as government-enforced segregation. There is some academic debate about this definition, and in particular how it relates to secessionism, as has been discussed online.
In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with notions of heredity and a particular ethnicity. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam, which are not limited in ethnic, national or racial scope.
Below are the articles listing active separatist movements by continent:
Regionalism is a political ideology that seeks to increase the political power, influence and self-determination of the people of one or more subnational regions. It focuses on the "development of a political or social system based on one or more" regions, and/or the national, normative, or economic interests of a specific region, group of regions or another subnational entity, gaining strength from or aiming to strengthen the "consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population", similarly to nationalism. More specifically, "regionalism refers to three distinct elements: movements demanding territorial autonomy within unitary states; the organization of the central state on a regional basis for the delivery of its policies including regional development policies; political decentralization and regional autonomy".
A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of "nation", a multinational state is usually multicultural or multilingual, and is geographically composed of more than one country, such as the countries of the United Kingdom.
Polish nationalism is a nationalism which asserts that the Polish people are a nation and which affirms the cultural unity of Poles. British historian of Poland Norman Davies defines nationalism as "a doctrine ... to create a nation by arousing people's awareness of their nationality, and to mobilize their feelings into a vehicle for political action."
Post-colonial anarchism is a term used to describe anarchism in an anti-imperialist framework. Whereas traditional anarchism arose from industrialized Western nations—and thus sees history from their perspective—post-colonial anarchism approaches the same principles of anarchism from the perspective of colonized peoples. It is highly critical of the contributions of the established anarchist movement, and seeks to add what it sees as a unique and important perspective. The tendency is strongly influenced by indigenism, anti-state forms of nationalism, and anarchism among ethnic minorities, among other sources.
Riffians or Rifians are a Berber ethnic group originally from the Rif region of northeastern Morocco. Communities of Riffian immigrants are also found in southern Spain, Netherlands and Belgium as well as elsewhere in Western Europe. They are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims, but retain their pre-Islamic traditions such as high status for Riffian women.
An ethnic flag is a flag that symbolizes a certain ethnic group. Ethnic flags are often introduced to the ethnic community through the respective cultural or political ethnic movements. They are popular among diasporas, ethnic minorities, and some ethnic majorities, especially in multiethnic countries.
The Aromanians in North Macedonia, also known as the Vlachs, are an officially recognised minority group of North Macedonia numbering some 9,695 people according to the 2002 census. They are concentrated in Kruševo, Štip, Bitola and Skopje.
Montenegrin nationalism is the nationalism that asserts that Montenegrins are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Montenegrins.
Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric approach to various political issues related to national affirmation of a particular ethnic group.
The Front for the Liberation of Champa was a Cham nationalist organisation active in Ninh Thuan province and the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It was founded in 1962 and merged with the Central Highlands Liberation Front and the Liberation Front of Kampuchea Krom to form the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO) in 1964.
References
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1 2 3 Chouinard, Stéphanie (2016), "Stateless nations", in Karl Cordell; Stefan Wolff (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Ethnic Conflict, Routledge, pp.54–66, ISBN9781317518921
↑ David Newman, Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity
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↑ Language in Geographic Context, Colin H. Williams, 39p.
↑ 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."
↑ 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
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
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
↑ 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. 7 (3). SAGE Publications Ltd: 301–319. doi:10.1177/1367877904046304. ISSN1367-8779. S2CID145547845.
↑ 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. 6 (2/3). Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd: 47–77. doi:10.31920/2050-4306/2017/v6n2_3a2. ISSN2050-4292.
↑ 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
↑ 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.
↑ "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
↑ 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. ISBN978-9723501391.
↑ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2009). "World Population Prospects, Table A.1"(PDF). 2008 revision. United Nations. Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (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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