Recently, we have been commemorating the 70th anniversary of India achieving independence from Britain which, at the last moment, resulted in the creation of Pakistan as well as India and subsequently – following a civil war – to the creation of another nation state Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
I have just returned from a short trip to Georgia. Except for a short period in 1918-1921 – the subject of a new book by Eric Lee – Georgia was effectively ruled by Tsarist Russia or the Soviet Union for two centuries, before obtaining its independence in 1991.<\/p>\n
On Monday (25 September), there will be a referendum in the Kurdish part of Iraq seeking support for an independent Kurdistan. Then, on 1 October, there is due to be a referendum in Catalonia seeking support for independence from Spain.<\/p>\n
I live in a country which is four nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – for the football World Cup but one in terms of membership of the EU and the UN.<\/p>\n
All around the world, one can see complications about what constitutes a nation state and how peoples should decide on the boundaries of such nation states.<\/p>\n