ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on transborder regions of eastern and central Europe which emerged following the establishment of successor nation-states on the territories of the former communist multinational federations of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. These regions span two or more states and contain a number of ethnic groups with varied legacies of statehood and/or minority status, and divergent levels of European integration; their populations exist with multiple identities and diverse territorial allegiances. Given that these regions possess a limited capacity to address people’s interests, the focus of this chapter is on the re-examination of the concept of self-determination so that it can be applied to transborder regions. Drawing on various examples, I analyze the historical and political context within which these regions emerged, as well as resulting dynamics between groups and states that encapsulate them. This analysis shows that these regions do not seek self-determination in terms of territorial rule, but on the basis of a more formal recognition of people’s experience and their (hybrid) identity. The preliminary conclusion argues that such a reformulation of self-determination directed at peoples living in transborder territories would require the EU to address issues connected to citizenship legislation, visa regimes, access to labour markets, language laws and multilingual education and so forth in view of regional dynamics across a whole region, not piecemeal state by state.
