ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses the manner in which multinational federations deal with minority nations within the federation. It argues that multinational federations should provide their minority nations with a substantial degree of self-government in order to enable them to sustain their own societal culture. The chapter identifies six characteristics necessary for minority nations to sustain their own societal culture, namely, national recognition, linguistic rights, immigration and integration powers, fiscal autonomy, internal self-determination, and external self-determination. The chapter proposes a Societal Culture Index, which is a framework to measure multinational federalism deficit of a state. This framework considers each of the characteristics abovementioned to determine whether a minority nation can be regarded an equal partner in relation to larger nations in the federation. The chapter argues that in order to manage their multinational-oriented federalism deficit, multinational federations should empower their minority nations with constitutional powers or competencies set out in the SCI.
