National–Cultural Autonomy as an Alternative to Minority Territorial Nationalism

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show the advantage of the national–cultural autonomy (NCA) model in dealing with national autonomy demands in societies affected by deep ethnic conflicts and where territorial separation is impossible or plainly inconvenient or where the territorial dispersion or dilution of national/ethnic communities does not allow the implementation of territorial autonomy or national separation. These cases are not few and the resolution to these protracted conflicts is often crippled by the impossibility of finding territorial solutions acceptable to all sides. The article aims to show that, in cases where territorial autonomy has been implemented, particularly in liberal multicultural democracies, the NCA model or aspects of it can complement territorial autonomy at its weakest point: the implementation of collective rights and constitutional protection of the culture and lifestyle of national and ethnic communities. Finally. it will be argued that the NCA model can act as a powerful container of secessionist or extreme demands for nationalist territorial segregation because it provides a feasible alternative to minority self-determination without resorting to the creation of separate states.