The Fate of the Nation State

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University. He
is the author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable
Kingdom, Chile and the Nazis, and The Diplomacy of War: The Case of
Korea.

This collection includes the work of 22 writers from Australia, Canada,
India, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States who in 2000
presented papers at a conference in Montreal. The writers’ primary
interest is the management of pluralistic nations.

The first nine essays are largely theoretical, although Ross Poole, a
veteran of Macquarie University in Sydney, notes the roles of First
Nations peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. (He is
sympathetic.) Kai Nielsen from Calgary deals with globalization and its
challenges to the nation-state. Many of these first nine authors discuss
the theories of Will Kymlicka. Unfortunately, many of these essays are
difficult to read. Between disruptive bracketed source references
(rather than footnotes or endnotes) and long, convoluted sentences, a
reader must really concentrate in order to understand what the writers
are trying to say.

The case studies, by contrast, are fascinating and much more readable.
Matthew Evangelista worries about the current direction of Russia as he
offers a succinct and credible review of Russian politics since the
collapse of the Soviet Union. John McGarry summarizes the politics of
Northern Ireland and the background to the Good Friday Accord of 1998.
David McCone finds it paradoxical that there is a stronger desire for
independence in Scotland, which shares a common language and Protestant
heritage with England, than in Wales or Catalonia. Montserrat Guibernau
confirms that most Catalonians want a measure of self-government, but
within Spain. Kadha Kumar warns that partition of political entities
(Cyprus, Ireland, India–Pakistan, Israel–Palestine, Yugoslavia) has
often created a new set of problems worse than what it replaced. Michael
Murphy discusses the place of the First Nations in Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand, while Thomas W. Pogge challenges Kymlicka’s theories
regarding language rights for 35 million Hispanics in the United States.
Henry Milner thinks that the expansion of Finland’s Swedish-speaking
minority can offer worthwhile lessons to Canadians, and Rajeev Bhargava
discusses the relevance of Islamic law to India’s Muslim minority.
Rogers Brubaker reviews the rise of nationalism in post-Communist
Europe, and Benedict Anderson suggests that Indonesia, although
heterogeneous, probably has a future. Finally, Kenneth McRoberts
discusses Quebec–Canada relations.