Stateless Nations Research Articles

On the (Im)possibility of the Kurdish Queer

Scattered across four countries in the Middle East, Kurds are one of the largest stateless nations in the world and have long been portrayed as pawns within imperial interventions in the region, both by some sections of the Left as well as within authoritarian right-wing politics. In parallel, a specific vein of postcolonial theory has treated queer/LGBTI+ activism in the region as “alien,” “foreign,” and even as a Trojan horse of imperialism, an idea that has been taken up, again, by sections of the Left as well as right-wing authoritarian politicians. Adopting the doubly illegitimized subject position of the “Kurdish queer” as its point of departure, this article highlights the importance of taking the situated knowledge and political analyses of Kurdish queers seriously to uncover histories of violence as well as the multiple layers of queer, postcolonial, and decolonial imagination. Doing so, the author argues, puts theory and visions of democracy under productive scrutiny, stretching them in critical directions. The article concludes that an investment in or curiosity for Kurdish queer studies is needed to complicate our understanding of the history and politics of the region, as well as how sexuality and conflict are entangled.

A “Para-University” on the Road toward Self-Governance: The Basque Studies Society and Autonomy, 1918-1936

AbstractIn the United States and Europe, para-university institutions have often been viewed as postsecondary institutions that satisfy some needs not addressed by universities. Such para-universities might be technical institutes or research centers affiliated with a parent university and/or a nation-state. In stateless nations, however, para-universities have acquired certain characteristics that, compared with nation-states, distinguish them in their rationale and development. In the Basque Country of Spain, the Basque Studies Society—an institution not born from, or linked to, any parent university—sought to unite the promotion of science and indigenous culture with a demand for educational and political autonomy. The Basque case reveals instructive contrasts that separate para-university practice from that of its European and American counterparts. This article analyzes para-university practice and activities during the first two decades of the Basque Studies Society (1918-1936). With its emphasis upon political autonomy as well as the absence of an established nation-state and the lack of a university that served as a base, this case study challenges traditional conceptions of the para-university in its essence and praxis.

Cultural diplomacy as a nation-building tool for stateless nationalisms: the search for recognition of Catalonia in Germany, 1901–1939

This article addresses the role that cultural diplomacy has played as a tool of nation-building for sub-state public entities led by movements representing stateless nations. It exemplifies this with the case of Catalonia's search for recognition in Germany, 1901–1939. The analysis highlights the ambivalence that characterized the actions of the Catalan sub-state public entities, between resigning themselves to their status as regional actors and aspirations for a different political constitution. We argue that this ambivalence was a strategy to maximize the effectiveness of their cultural diplomacy policies considering state and international contexts reluctant to recognize sub-state entities as political actors.

Mapping a „Nowhere Nation”. The Toxic Spell of „Imperial Knowledge” and Challenges of Decolonization

The article explores the reasons for the protracted absence of Ukraine from the mental maps of most Europeans and people elsewhere. Until 1991, this was explained by the absence of Ukraine on political maps and the prevailing tendency to identify nations with states that made stateless nations politically „invisible”. The appearance of Ukraine on political maps after its independence did not solve the problem: formal „visibility” could not guarantee adequate perception of the country and, consequently, effective policy toward it. The lack of an adequate international response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent hybrid war was a clear manifestation of this inadequacy, which has not been fully overcome even after the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion. The article proves that the main reason for Ukraine’s „invisibility”, as well as current cognitive misunderstandings, is the uncritical adoption by the international community of the Russian point of view, both on Russia itself and on the peoples it colonized. This point of view is articulated by a system of narratives developed by the empire with the primary goal to deprive the subjugated nations of any agency, to make them virtually invisible for the rest of the world and inferior for themselves. Ewa Thompson defined this system of narratives as „imperial knowledge”. Over the past two centuries, the empire has successfully institutionalized and disseminated it in the world as allegedly „scientific” and therefore unquestionable; normalized, elevated it to the level of „common wisdom” that should not be questioned. It was the international normalization and internalization of that knowledge that contributed to the misguided policies of most governments toward both Russia and Ukraine. Its false postulates still contribute to the global penetration of Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda and preclude a unified international response to Russian aggression. The article proposes a radical deconstruction of that „knowledge”, within the ongoing global processes of decolonization.

The Catalan Digital Republic: Between Nation Branding and Nation Building

ABSTRACT This article empirically studies the Catalan Digital Republic, that is the set of practises, narratives, institutions, and infrastructures mobilised by a stateless nation to reposition itself in the international arena. The article has a two-sided objective. First, to analyse how nation branding and nation building strategies intersect with digital technologies and technopolitical narratives. Second, to examine how stateless nations are making use of such technologies and strategies in order to find their way in the international arena. To satisfy these objectives we have empirically studied the case of Catalonia, a stateless nation which in the last years has developed an ambitious technopolitical strategy rebranding itself as the southern European technological hub. To do so we have relied on a triangular methodological strategy combining (1) critical discourse analysis; (2) in-depth interviews with high-profile actors coming from the political, academic, and civil society landscape, and (3) a thorough documentary analysis. The first part of the article explores the concept of digital nation and its relationship with the notion of nation branding. In the second part of the text, we present the methodology and the objectives. We continue the paper by outlining the results of the interviewing process and the critical analysis of the findings. The article concludes with a critical recapitulation of the research results.

Blood for bread: Necro‐labor, nonsovereign bodies, and the state of exception in Rojhelat

AbstractAs members of a stateless nation that is geopolitically divided across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, Kurds are known mainly in the West as excellent fighters and political revolutionaries. Amid the devastation of war and political unrest, most Kurds struggle for economic survival. This is especially true for Eastern Kurds living under Iranian rule. They have seen their lands confiscated, their resources plundered, and their access to capital and educational mobility severely restricted. Moreover, under the rule of the Iranian Persian‐Shi'i necropolitics, Kurds have been culturally and economically subjected to a regime of internal colonialism that has eroded their capacity for economic survival. Building on the literature on sovereignty and violence, this article investigates the nexus between precarity, spatiality, and necropolitics as embodied in the practice of Kurdish cross‐border labor, or kolberi. I argue that the Iranian state deploys the discourse of a securitized borderland as a weapon to inflict a permanent state of exception on Rojhelat, condemning Kurds to the status of living dead through the imposition of precarious necro‐labor practice. Furthermore, this study articulates the border as an archive where registers of state necropolitics are deposited, preserved, and revealed in the lives of kolbers.

The Stateless Nation’s Elite: Artistic Collections of Polish Aristocracy, 1795–1918


 
 
 The article aims to investigate aristocratic collecting practices in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 19th century, focusing on three points. First, we highlight the specific situation of the Polish aristocracy compared to most European countries and note the weakness of collecting culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early modern period, followed by its slow emergence at the end of the 18th century. Then, we investigate the most important phenomena of 19th-century aristocratic collecting and distinguish two major trends within it: collecting art and collecting national memorabilia. We also highlight the importance of aristocratic collections for a stateless nation. Finally, to illustrate the overview, using a specific example to underline the key issues, we discuss the collections of Princes Czartoryski. In this essay, we summarize our previous research on the collections of Polish aristocracy and provide, for the first time, a comprehensive and systematic panorama of this phenomenon.
 
 

Autonomy Over Independence: Self-Determination in Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol in the Aftermath of the Great War.

The end of the First World War was a crucial time for nationalist leaders and minority communities across the European continent and beyond. The impact of the post-war spread of self-determination on the redrawing of Eastern European borders and on the claims of colonial independence movements has been extensively researched. By contrast, the international historiography has paid little attention to minority nationalist movements in Western Europe. This article focuses on three regions (Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol) that experienced considerable sub-state national mobilization in the interwar period. We aim to understand whether the leaders of Western European minorities and stateless nations shared the same enthusiasm as their anti-colonial and Eastern European counterparts for the new international order that self-determination seemed to foreshadow in the months following the end of the First World War. Because the American President Woodrow Wilson stood out as the most prominent purveyor of the new international legitimacy of self-determination, the article further examines how Western European nationalist movements exploited Wilson's image and advocacy to achieve their own goals. Nationalist forces in Catalonia, Flanders and South Tyrol initially mobilized self-determination and referred to Wilson as a symbol of national liberation, but this instrumentalization of self-determination was not sustained. Large-scale mobilization occurred only in Catalonia, and, even there, it disappeared suddenly in spring 1919. Furthermore, sub-state nationalist movements in Western Europe tended to mobilize self-determination to gain regional autonomy, rather than full independence, thus pursuing internal, not external, self-determination. The willingness of these movements to privilege autonomy over full independence made them more receptive to compromise. Radical forces would become stronger only in the 1930s and largely for reasons not directly connected to the post-war mobilization around self-determination.

Mapuche Az-Mapu and Nature's Contribution to People: Eudemonic Values for Living Well

In the context of understanding Nature's Contribution to People, this article explores the Mapuche value system and its contributions to living well by conserving nature. Through the context-specific approach, the findings shows that the Mapuche Az-Mapu is important for bio-cultural conservation in Chile. Deepening understanding of the distinct Mapuche value system shows the importance of rights and sovereignty for other coastal stateless nations who are enhancing bio-cultural conservation around the world. The article explores the importance of maintaining Mapuche values in the context of Indigenous Marine Areas in Chile and linking to land-based rights. This research makes use of semi structured interviews and intercultural dialogue among the authors, to understand how traditional Mapuche concepts under the framework of Az-Mapu, are continued today in local marine conservation and other ecosystems. In this context, we ask how well these eudemonic relational values resonate with Mapuche values of nature. This article shows that rights for the marine environment can be expanded to additionally allow indigenous communities safeguard wetlands, lakes and forests which are indivisible under Az-Mapu. Greater recognition of this different form of valuation can better account for the dynamic relations between individuals, cultures, and ecosystems, as well as showing the importance in allowing indigenous communities to take back control of conservation under their own terms.

Iraqi Neighbors’ Stance on Kurdish Independence Referendum of 2017: Iran and Turkey

This paper is to evaluate the stance of both Iran and Turkey on the independence referendum of the Iraqi Kurds, 2017. This has been done by reviewing several articles that have, partly, highlighted the stance of Iraqi neighboring countries on the issue. It is, therefore, a survey-like study to find out why and how these states were against the step. While the Kurdish attempt for independence was backed by several historical reasons and realistic opportunities, it faced failure. Iran and Turkey, as two Iraqi neighbors that have a considerable number of Kurdish populations inside their borders, played a crucial role in defeating the step. The point here is that, globally, while Western powers were against Iran’s behavior, agreed with it in facing the referendum. Besides, regionally, while Iran and Turkey had lots of issues regarding the Syrian crisis, they agreed on taking joint steps against the referendum. This means that the regional powers and the international community agreed on protecting Iraqi territorial integrity by violating the Kurdish right to self-determination. The fact is that Iran and Turkey’s fear of spillover effects of the referendum on their population was a realistic one, to an extent. However, the unaddressed question is that nulling the referendum did not solve the Kurdish dilemma in the Middle East. Additionally, the referendum has become another issue to challenge the new world order which, in theory, is based on international law and principles; and, in practice, it is based on the interest of great powers. The Kurdish issue, in both theory and practice, is a problematique one for the international community. Here, the conflict of interests is between the stateless nations who want to become independent and the current states who want to protect their territorial integrity.

The fatedness of place: Basque football and national identities

ABSTRACT Wedged between Spain and France, the stateless nation of the Basques has a keen sense of national identity. The construction and maintenance of national identities has taken place in both the social and political terrains. At the heart of these constructions lies a deep sense of origins and difference. Basque sport, particularly football, is yet another terrain to situate Basque national identity in alterity. The first division Athletic Bilbao has earned its reputation due to a recruitment strategy they call la filosofía: since the early twentieth century, they have fielded Basque players only. Through constant discussions and decisions about whether a player is ‘Basque’ or ‘Basque enough,’ and what that means, football has greatly contributed to the construction of a national imagery that has revolved around place, political ideology, race and ethnicity, and transnational culture.

Османська імперія у рецепції Т. Ґ. Масарика у період Першої світової війни

The article is devoted to the issue of Czech politician T. G. Masaryk’s perception of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. It is noted that T. G. Masaryk perceived the World War I as a crisis of European civilization, the political content of which he considered the struggle of democratic countries (the Entente) and the theocratic ones (Germany and its allies). Being in exile since December 1914, T. G. Masaryk led the liberation movement of the Czechs and Slovaks. Seeking support for the independence of the stateless nations of Central and Eastern Europe, T. G. Masaryk in his memoranda to the politicians of the Entente countries, public speeches, and writings paid considerable attention to criticizing empires from the Central States and, in particular, the Ottoman Empire, which he considered remnants of the past, undemocratic and anti-national. T. G. Masaryk assessed the Ottoman Empire as a theocratic state in decline, and considered The Young Turk regime to be the new incarnation of the military essence of the Turkish state. He saw the basis of the union of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire in the internal similarity of their political regimes. The scholar assumed that the reason for Turkey’s entry into the World War I on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary was the desire of the country’s leadership to keep Istanbul and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, to revive the former imperial position in North Africa. In the context of the analysis of Berlin’s Pan-German foreign program, he pointed out that one of its goals was an alliance with the Ottoman Empire as a key means of penetrating the Middle East. T. G. Masaryk viewed Germany’s hegemony in Central Europe in connection with the strengthening of its position in the Middle East, which he considered part of the process of becoming the strongest colonial power. He believed that a Pan-German alternative to the Eastern question would lead to German world domination. Analyzing the strategy of German colonial policy and the place of the Ottoman Empire in it, T. G. Masaryk expressed his vision of the expedient plans of the Allies for the Ottoman state. He advocated the deprivation of Turkey of its European possessions. As for Istanbul and the Straits, Masaryk’s position changed. At first, he supported their transfer to Russia, and after its exit from the war – under the temporary international control of the Entente countries until the final resolution of the issue of their state affiliation.

The Economics of Stateless Nations: Sovereign Debt and Popular Well-being in Pakistan

The conventional wisdom is that “persistent fiscal and balance of payments deficits are a fundamental source of Pakistan’s high debt burden” [Pakistan (2001), p. xv)].1 The State Bank of Pakistan (2001, p. 117) goes further: “This…public debt is the result of structural weaknesses in the domestic economy and the external account. Excessive government expenditures, stagnant tax revenues, high returns on government securities and inappropriate sequencing of financial reforms, led to a bludgeoning (sic.) domestic debt profile. On the external front, large current account deficits, stagnant export revenues and declining worker (sic.) remittances, effectively forced Pakistan into an unsustainable situation”. All this is true, but hardly exhaustive.

Trauma Narratives of Scottish Childhood in Janice Galloway’s Short Stories

Janice Galloway represents one of the most strikingly original voices in new Scottish fiction, which breaks with the tradition of conventional narratives looking back at the national history and looking up to larger-than-life male heroes. Instead, Galloway writes deftly crafted short stories of everyday life in contemporary settings, finding that the past informs the present and proceeding to explore how the stateless nation’s cultural heritage affects her characters. This paper analyses selected stories from Galloway’s collections Blood (1991) and Where You Find It (1996) from the perspective of trauma criticism, which seems a particularly fitting approach to the author’s often disturbing narratives of violence and abuse. The focus is on child characters and on the ways that historical trauma, as introduced by Sigmund Freud and further refined by Cathy Caruth, is passed down to them. Finally, the paper provides examples from the individual short stories which illustrate how the traumatic experience can be acknowledged, witnessed, and ultimately communicated.

LITERATURE OF EMIGRATION. EXPERIENCE OF HISTORICAL PROSE IN THE FIELD OF FOREIGN CULTURE

Historical novel, as a special genre formation born of Romanticism, has become an artistic tool for the reproduction of the past, its discovery and invention. Historical prose is the literary space where two worldview narrative strategies intersect, overlap, and sometimes collide: these are history that (in its academic sense) seeks to recreate the ‘true past’, and literature, which is a particular representation and development of the world. Historical prose of Ukrainian emigration appears as a fairly integral literary and aesthetic phenomenon during two interwar decades of the 20th century and ends at the border of the 1990s — aft er Ukraine gained its independence. For nations that lost their statehood, the return of the past, its glorification is an important means of forming national identity and self-consciousness. The historical novel of the Ukrainian emigration is a relentless attempt to root its next generations in the national tradition of collective memory.
 In general, for societies in which the state tradition has been interrupted, historical prose can be an essential factor in restoring / maintaining national memory, as well as a means of creating national myths, projecting the past into modern problems of a stateless nation, and preserving national traditions. The historical prose of the Ukrainian emigration was actually focused on these aims, taking responsibility for the nationalist and philosophic perspective rooted in the past in order to preserve and increase it in the future. The aspiration and experience of Ukrainian emigration in other countries carries a number of tasks that it set for itself. Th ese were, in particular, the preservation of the native language, culture, and creative activity, including historical prose on the themes prohibited in the mainland literature, the formation of the strategy of collective memory through historical prose.

Sikhs: A Stateless Nation, a Powerful Cohesive Diaspora and a Mistaken Identity

Sikhs can be considered as a ‘stateless nation’ (Guibernau, 1999), but they constitute a cohesive diaspora with considerable weight, despite being greatly dispersed across the world, and increasingly so due to the possibilities afforded to them by globalisation. On the other hand, the Nation-State has been brought into question by that very same globalisation, regardless of the long process of consolidation in which symbols, rituals, and culture as well as language have placed emphasis upon the uniqueness of a Nation’s character (Scholte, 2005). Globalisation has provided empowerments, but also the strong case for the need to stand out, and individuation of groups, whether they be national or sub-national. The organisation of that stateless nation as a cohesive diaspora can be explained by the historical context of how Sikhs have been perceived in India, but also how Sikh communities have constructed themselves through migration. In the new ‘home’, wherever that might have been, they have built their communities around calendrical rights, festivals and gurdwaras, firstly converting residential homes into make-shift places of worship, and then extending them into fully-established temples. Similar or even identical patterns are followed, regardless of the host country. With this in mind, it is proposed here to compare the case of Sikhs in France and the United Kingdom. Sikhs in France are less numerous than Sikhs in the UK. The ties that link Sikhs to the latter are stronger through imperial history, and the reasons why Sikhs came to both countries are very different. However, despite these differences, there has been a desire for Sikhs in both Nations to obtain recognition, deemed to be a vital human need, rather than just a curtesy (Taylor, 1994). One common element that stands out in Sikhs’ demands for recognition in both the UK and in France is their role in furthering imperial military success in both the British Raj and also in World Wars I and II. However, this remains largely unknown, or unrecognised in both France and the UK. While Sikhs are relatively well placed1 and less stigmatised that some other minority groups in both British and French societies, there is a common perception among them that they are a ‘mistaken identity’, at a time that demands individuation of groups, and the ability to stand out, and be recognised. It is proposed here to use material drawn from a number of interviews carried out with both Sikhs in the UK and those in France, to attempt to establish to what extent they are a visible, and yet invisible, community. The complexity of ‘visible invisibility’ means that they are recognised immediately as being different, but at the same time, they are unknown. In the UK, even if they benefit from a better perception by the rest of society because of their particular place in colonial history, they are still frequently confused with other groups, do experience crises of identity, and receive their share of violence and hate crime. In France, they are less known, due to lesser colonial ties, and to their more-recent presence on the territory.

Palestinian and Kurdish nationalism: Understanding the ‘politics of the possible’

ABSTRACTThis article compares the efforts of the Palestinians and the Kurds – the two largest stateless nations in the Middle East – to obtain recognition. While Kurdish movements are spread across four countries in the region – Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with specificities dependent on the historical context and relations with the particular host state – in this article we focus on the Syrian Kurds as a contrast to the Palestinians. This is because these two communities arrive at different end‐points in their national liberation projects despite sharing similar self‐determination aims. These differences provide an opportunity to analyse and comment on the factors which impact on self‐determination trajectories. The article examines the emancipatory potential of nationalism while simultaneously reflecting on the limitations imposed by regional dynamics and intra‐group tensions. We compare the constraints faced by these two groups as non‐state actors in a region shaped by the realpolitik of powerful states, recognizing that both of them – as transnational actors – in turn impact on these states as well.

Challenging scalar fallacy in state‐wide welfare studies: AUKsub‐state comparison of civil society approaches to addressing youth unemployment

AbstractHere we make an original, empirical contribution to debates on welfare pluralism, the mixed economies of welfare and territorial rescaling by comparing civil society approaches to tackling youth unemployment in England, Scotland and Wales. Our core finding is that academic and policy literature's frequent characterisation of the UK as a single Liberal welfare regime is based on methodological nationalism privileging state‐wide analyses. In short, a scalar fallacy pervasive in international welfare studies. In the context of the global rise of meso‐government and so‐called ‘stateless nations’ pressing for greater autonomy, our case‐study challenges the dominant paradigm. Our analysis shows the liberal characteristics of work‐first policy orientation and marketised civil society are concentrated in England then tempered by devolved (social) policy. Based on contrasting, left‐of‐centre and civic nationalist governing traditions, grounded in multi‐level electoral politics, we show the devolved nations taking a different approach to Westminster, partially eschewing the market and incorporating collectivism and co‐production.

MEMORY, HISTORICAL PROSE AND FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

Historical prose as a component of national literature is an essential part of the cultural life of modern nations. One of its tasks is to form the cultural memory of large groups that create national communities, structure the past and preserve its integrity and uniqueness.
 The historical prose of Ukrainian emigration eloquently demonstrates mutual projections of memory and the formation of national conscience and identity. The prose of emigration as an exile can serve as a relief and expressive evidence of the formation and interpenetration of the main ideas and concepts, ideological and aesthetic figurative paradigm, formed on the border of memory, history, and literature. This is how historical prose is seen as a purposeful policy of memory.
 For societies where the state tradition was interrupted, historical prose can be considered an important factor in restoring/maintaining national memory, as well as a means of creating national myths, projecting the past on the modern problems of a stateless nation, and preserving the national traditions.
 Historical prose of Ukrainian emigration had these tasks in mind, taking responsibility for the national philosophical perspective rooted in the past in order to preserve and increase it in the future. The idea of self-discovery through one’s own history is, in particular, an important element in the existence of Ukrainian emigration: in this case, we talk about national self-knowledge in a community that tries to preserve its national identity and fix it not only in oral tradition but also in scholarly historical research and historical prose.
 Historical fiction of the 20th-century Ukrainian emigration was a means of discovering the sources of traditions in the past that directly influences modernity, and an attempt to build a historiosophical literary model that would reveal the forgotten past, show the causes of current problems, and point out the way to future.

Home‐rule versus non‐territorial autonomy? Western European national movements and their views on the minority question, 1919–1939

AbstractThe leading elites of the ethnonationalist movements that developed in the aftermath of World War I in Western Europe usually refused to see their nations and territories as ‘national minorities’. In their view, they were stateless nations or nationalities. However, in the aftermath of World War I, the prior international discussion on the nationality principle was increasingly replaced with the notion of ‘minority rights’, enhanced by the implementation of the Minorities Treaties by the League of Nations. Thus, the term ‘national minority’ emerged as a label that permitted ethnonationalist activist to present their claims on the international stage. This became evident in the participation of some Western European national movements in the activities of some transnational non‐governmental organisations, such as the Congress of European Nationalities (1925–1939). However, the general programme advocated by the most influential leaders of East‐Central ethnic minorities, based on the extension of the personal principle and the implementation of non‐territorial autonomy all over Europe, was hard to accept for ethnonationalist elites from Western Europe, which were interested in territorial home‐rule and believed that their homelands did not fit in the category of ‘minority’. This article explores the modalities and limits of that cultural and political dialogue.