The Politics of Nation-Building : Making Co-Nationals, Refugees, and Minorities

What drives a state's choice to assimilate, accommodate, or exclude ethnic groups within its territory? In this pathbreaking work on the international politics of nation-building, Harris Mylonas argues that a state's nation-building policies toward non-core groups - any aggregation of individuals perceived as an unassimilated ethnic group by the ruling elite of a state - are influenced by both its foreign policy goals and its relations with the external patrons of these groups. Through a detailed study of the Balkans, Mylonas shows that the way a state treats a non-core group within its own borders is determined largely by whether the state's foreign policy is revisionist or cleaves to the international status quo, and whether it is allied or in rivalry with that group's external patrons. Mylonas explores the effects of external involvement on the salience of cultural differences and the planning of nation-building policies. The Politics of Nation-Building injects international politics into the study of nation-building, building a bridge between international relations and the comparative politics of ethnicity and nationalism. This is the first book to explain systematically how the politics of ethnicity in the international arena determine which groups are assimilated, accommodated, or annihilated by their host states. What drives a state's choice to assimilate, accommodate, or exclude ethnic groups within its territory? In this innovative work on the international politics of nation-building, Harris Mylonas argues that a state's nation-building policies toward non-core groups – any aggregation of individuals perceived as an ethnic group by the ruling elite of a state – are influenced by both its foreign policy goals and its relations with the external patrons of these groups. Through a detailed study of the Balkans, Mylonas shows that how a state treats a non-core group within its own borders is determined largely by whether the state's foreign policy is revisionist or cleaves to the international status quo, and whether it is allied or in rivalry with that group's external patrons. Mylonas injects international politics into the study of nation-building, building a bridge between international relations and the comparative politics of ethnicity and nationalism. This is the first book to explain systematically how the politics of ethnicity in the international arena determine which groups are assimilated, accommodated, or annihilated by their host states. What drives a state's choice to assimilate, accommodate, or exclude ethnic groups within its territory? In this innovative work on the international politics of nation-building, The author argues that a state's nation-building policies toward non-core groups, any aggregation of individuals perceived as an ethnic group by the ruling elite of a state, are influenced by both its foreign policy goals and its relations with the external patrons of these groups. Through a detailed study of the Balkans, Mylonas shows that how a state treats a non-core group within its own borders is determined largely by whether the state's foreign policy is revisionist or cleaves to the international status quo, and whether it is allied or in rivalry with that group's external patrons. Mylonas injects international politics into the study of nation-building, building a bridge between international relations and the comparative politics of ethnicity and nationalism. This is the first book to explain systematically how the politics of ethnicity in the international arena determine which groups are assimilated, accommodated, or annihilated by their host states Introduction -- The International Politics Of Assimilation, Accommodation, & Exclusion -- Why The Balkans? -- Explaining Cross-national Variation: Nation-building In Post-world War I Balkans -- Explaining Odd Cases -- Explaining Subnational Variation: Greek Nation-building In Western Macedonia, 1916-1920 -- Explaining Temporal Variation: Serbian Nation-building Toward Albanians, 1878-1941; Nation-building In The Revisionist Kingdom Of Serbia; Nation-building In The Status Quo Kingdom Of Serbs, Croats And Slovenes -- Generalizability -- Conclusion. Harris Mylonas. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. What drives a state's choice to assimilate, accommodate or exclude ethnic groups within its territory? Mylonas argues a state's nation-building policies toward non-core groups - individuals perceived as an ethnic group by the state ruling elite - are influenced by its foreign policy goals and relations with external patrons of these groups. Mylonas argues that foreign policy goals and international relations drives a state's assimilation or exclusion policies towards an ethnic group