ABSTRACT
Although regional transformation seems to be a perpetually accelerating phenomenon, we have for a long time been used to living with certain large-scale socio-spatial facts in our modern world, prominent among which has been the existence of states and their boundaries, a certainty that has been canonized in international law and in the actions of the United Nations. This fact has dominated international relations, even though it is well-known that most currently existing states are not nation-states, in the sense that several ethno-national groups co-exist within them, either peacefully or in conflict. Some of these groups may be struggling fiercely for autonomy or a state of their own.
