ABSTRACT
This contribution examines some normative fundamentals of multinational states, specifically those containing minorities coexisting with a national majority that has historically been the backbone of the state. The crises in traditionally unitary states and post-communist ones that pursue compulsory policies of national homogenization have forced a re-examination of the conditions conducive to the coexistence of several nationalities within one state. The present study contains a constructivist critique of the organic concept of nation and suggests a cooperative reformulation of federalism as an asymmetric means to institutionalize democratic pluralism
