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- Nationalism, self-determination and secession
Nationalism, self-determination and secession

What makes a 'nation' and what makes peoples strive for nationhood? This free course, Nationalism, self-determination and secession, will provide you with an introduction to studying political ideas by looking at how people who see themselves as nations challenge the existing order to assert their right to a state of their own.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- grasp the concepts of nation, nationalism and self-determination
- have a better understanding of the role they play in current political disputes
- think about the problem of how to take democratic decisions about secession
- relate political theory to political practice more rigorously
- take a more informed and active part in debates about national and international politics.
First Published: 10/08/2012
Updated: 14/04/2016
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Course content
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Preface
- 2 Political belonging: loyalty, community and statehood
- 3 Self-determination: individual and collective
- 4 What is a ‘nation’?
- 5 Nationalism as an ideology
- 5 Nationalism as an ideology
- 5.1 Ideology: a contested concept
- 5.2 ‘The prioritisation of a particular group – the nation – as a key constituting and identifying framework for human beings and their practices’
- 5.3 ‘A positive valorisation is assigned to one's own nation, granting it specific claims over the conduct of its members’
- 5.4 ‘The desire to give politico-institutional expression to the first two core concepts’
- 5.5 ‘A sense of belonging and membership in which sentiment and emotion play an important role’
- 6 National self-determination
- 6 National self-determination
- 6.1 When is secession justified?
- 6.2 Who should get to vote on secession?
- 6.3 What size of majority vote should decide the issue?
- 6.4 Does one community seceding grant a similar right to others?
- 6.5 Do our answers depend on who the groups are?
- 6.6 What about a more restrictive ‘remedial right?’
- 6.7 What about alternatives to secession?
- 7 Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgements
- This site has Copy Reuse Tracking enabled - see our FAQs for more information.
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8 hours study
Level 2: Intermediate
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