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 the nation 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.
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
BritainEnglish 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]
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.
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.
^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.
^
abcChouinard, 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
^Ethnic Minority Media: An International Perspective, Stephen Harold Riggins, 217p.
^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."
^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
^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.
^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.
^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 5 September 2018 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.
^"Cham". Minority Rights Group. 19 June 2015.
Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
^Sámi people (14 December 2015).
"Sámi in Sweden". sweden.se.
Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
^Triandafyllidou, A.; Paraskevopoulou, A. (2002). "When is the Greek Nation? The Role of Enemies and Minorities". Geopolitics. 7 (2): 75–98.
doi:
10.1080/714000936.
S2CID143865718.
^McClimans, Alam and Melinda (2016).
"Nation States and Stateless Nations". Keys to Understanding the Middle East. The Ohio State University.
Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
Duany, Jorge (2008). "Nation on the move: the construction of cultural identities in Puerto Rico and the diaspora". American Ethnologist. 27 (1). Wiley: 5–30.
doi:
10.1525/ae.2000.27.1.5.
ISSN0094-0496.