[ex libris] The Symbolic State

Minority Recognition, Majority Backlash, and Secession in Multinational Countries and Autonomy

Karlo Basta

McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021

The nation-state is a double sleight of hand, naturalizing both the nation and the state encompassing it. No such naturalization is possible in multinational states. To explain why these countries experience political crises that bring their very existence into question, standard accounts point to conflicts over resources, security, and power. This book turns the spotlight on institutional symbolism.

When minority nations in multinational states press for more self-government, they are not only looking to protect their interests. They are asking to be recognized as political communities in their own right. Yet satisfying their demands for recognition threatens to provoke a reaction from members of majority nations who see such changes as a symbolic repudiation of their own vision of politics. Secessionist crises flare up when majority backlash reverses symbolic concessions to minority nations. Through a synoptic historical sweep of Canada, Spain, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia,The Symbolic State shows us that institutions may be more important for what they mean than for what they do.

23 June 2022

Author of the book

Karlo Basta, University of Edinburgh

Discussants

Maja Sahadžić, University of Antwerp

Francisco Javier Romero Caro, Institute for Comparative Federalism, Eurac Research

Moderation

Petra Malfertheiner, Institute for Comparative Federalism, Eurac Research

Registration is required. Please register here: https://scientificnet.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VOlfNWLtQxGfmJTvRIewcA

The ex libris will be streamed live on the Eurac Research Institute for Comparative Federalism’s Youtube channel.

Info and contact

Francisco Javier Romero Caro

Eurac Research – Institute for Comparative Federalism

franciscojavier.romerocaro@eurac.edu