ABSTRACT
Scholars have often announced the death of sub-state nationalism in Western liberal-democracies (Keating, 1999: 1). In the late nineteenth century, Emile Durkheim argued that functional, not territorial cleavages were to be of foremost importance in politics. In the 1960s, Karl Deutsch saw the advance of “centers” onto “peripheries” as the logical consequence of industrialization, progress and modernity. Of course, these predictions have proven false as there are currently vigorous nationalist movements in Canada (Québécois), Spain (Catalan, Basque, Galician), Belgium (Flemish), the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales), and even France (Corsica), which seek either increased autonomy or independence. Substate nationalism has forced states to develop strategies of management, from accommodation and compromise to assimilation and confrontation. These strategies have differed from case to case, as they have been shaped by the historical, cultural, and institutional features specific to each society. They have also left countries in different political situations.
