Stateless nation

A stateless nation is an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own sovereign state.^[1] The term stateless implies that the group has the right to self-determination, to establish an independent nation 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 term was coined in 1983 by political scientist Jacques Leruez in his book L'Écosse, une nation sans État about the peculiar position of Scotland within the British state. It was later adopted and popularized by Scottish scholars such as David McCrone, Michael Keating and T. M. Devine.^[7]

Stateless nations either are dispersed across a number of states (for example, the Yoruba people found in the African states of Nigeria, Benin and Togo) or form the native population of a province within a larger state (such as the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region within the People's Republic of China). Some stateless nations historically had a state, which was absorbed by another; for example, Tibet's declaration of independence in 1913 was not recognized, and it was reunited in 1951 by the People's Republic of China - which claims that Tibet is an integral part of China, while the Tibetan government-in-exile maintains that Tibet is an independent state under an unlawful occupation.^[8][9] Some ethnic groups were once a stateless nation that later became a nation state (for example, the nations of the Balkans such as the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins and Macedonians that were once part of the multinational state of Yugoslavia and gained independence during the breakup of Yugoslavia).

Stateless nations can have large populations; for example, the Kurds have an estimated population of over 30 million people, which makes them one of the largest stateless nations.^[10] Multiple stateless nations can reside in the same geographical region or country: the Tuareg, Toubou, Rifians, and Kabyle in North Africa; the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine, Rohingya, and Shan in Myanmar; the Galicians, Cantabrians, Asturians, Aragonese, Basques, Catalans, Valencians, and Andalusians in Spain; and the Sardinians, Friulians, Ladins, Sicilians, Neapolitans, Ligurians, Piedmontese, Venetians and Lombards in Italy.^[11]

Nation-states and nations without states

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 Britain English 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]

Unionism vs separatism

Not all ethnic groups claim to be a nation or aspire to be a separate state. Some of them see themselves as part of the multinational state they are located in and believe that their interests are well represented in it. The favoring of a united single state is associated with unionism (such as Pakistani nationalism, Indian nationalism, Indonesian nationalism, Chinese nationalism,^[30] British nationalism, Spanish nationalism, and Russian nationalism^{[citation needed][clarification needed]}). In many countries, unionism is also encouraged by governments and separatism is considered illegal.

Claims by stateless nations and ethnic groups with autonomous status