Fourth World: Resurgent Nations in the New Europe

▪ 1997

Introduction

      by Richard A. Griggs and Peter R. Hocknell

 Throughout the world in 1996, there were some 6,000 to 9,000 Fourth World "nations," territorial and political units that lacked recognition by the United Nations but endured as distinct political cultures within the boundaries of 191 states (the internationally recognized countries). Fourth World nations persisted despite incorporation within states, finding unity in historical, cultural, and territorial ties.

      The geography and geopolitics of this "Fourth World" (those nations that do not enjoy sovereign statehood) hold significant implications everywhere, including Europe, where approximately 110 of these submerged nations are located. Often these nations occupy a recognized region within a larger state—e.g., Wales, Tuscany, or Valencia. In the past they have been the building blocks of such European states as Italy and Germany, and today they define some of the political fault lines along which states break apart (Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia). By 1996 many of these Fourth World nations were organizing for a new dispensation based not on sovereign statehood but in the context of a federal "Europe of Regions."

The Geography of Europe's Fourth World Nations.

      Around 15% of Europe's distinct nations would be shown on a standard political map (more than most major world regions). Andorra, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, and San Marino are long-accepted examples of internationally recognized states composed of only one nation. The addition of Belarus, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia during the 1990s nearly doubled the number of internationally recognized nations. Distributed within or across about 25 multinational states are another 100 Fourth World nations. These figures are partly dependent on one's definition of Europe (this article includes the newly independent Baltic states and Ukraine as the eastern boundary of Europe but excludes Russia and Turkey).

      Excluding the dominant nation cores of states (for example, Svealand dominates Sweden and Castile dominates Spain) and those nations with very weak political movements (such as Pomerania), Fourth World nations can claim at least one-third of Europe's land area. They dominate more than half of Europe's coastline and form a concentrated core of smaller nations in the rugged heartland of the Alps.

      The Fourth World nations can be classified as follows:

      Recognized Nations: those that have resisted long-standing attempts by states to assimilate them culturally and have achieved independence. In most cases statehood was gained by decolonization rather than expansion.

      Autonomous Nations: those that have resisted long-standing attempts by states to assimilate them culturally and have achieved a considerable measure of autonomy.

      City-States: city regions that have achieved autonomy or independence.

      Enduring Nations: those that have employed strong political movements to counter long-standing attempts to assimilate them culturally. Most have achieved a partial or limited autonomy.

      Renascent Nations: historic nations that have undergone a cultural renaissance since 1945, resulting in emboldened movements for greater political recognition.

      Remnant Nations: dormant nations with weak or incipient national movements. Most have expanding memberships and remain a geopolitical force by means of organized activity.

      Nation Cores of States: most regions within states that become both the centres of expansion and the dominant cultures of the states.

      Irredenta Nations: peoples separated by an interstate boundary because of a treaty or war.

      These categories are not stagnant. Nations can move from autonomy to recognition or from remnant to renascent at different stages of their development. It is also important to understand that identity is layered and neither temporally nor spatially fixed. City-states and regions, though not specifically nationalistic, can also be part of broader movements for self-determination.

A Europe of Regions.

      Those who assumed that European unity would eliminate nationalist forces may be surprised at what is actually happening. The specific strategy of most Fourth World nations is aimed not at creating new independent states but at enhancing their legitimacy and strengthening confederational organizations. They seek representation in European Union institutions and domestic autonomy consistent with EU aims.

      These developments synchronize two geopolitical forces and result in a squeeze on the state as the dominant form of political organization. On one side the proponents of a federal Europe argue that the individual state can no longer meet the problems posed by such continental and global problems as drugs, economic competition, and pollution. On the other side are old nations, regions, and city-states seeking more appropriate and less centralized solutions for their particularly local problems. In this scenario the EU would be large enough to wrestle with the big problems, while the region or nation could deal with the smaller ones. Middle-scale problems would be handled by EU commissions acting as facilitators between the affected nations, regions, or cities. Thus, the region rather than the traditional state becomes the significant subdivision of a united Europe.

      Most important treaties on Europe have in one way or another facilitated the Europe of Regions. The 1987 Single European Act established the European Regional Development Fund, which was designed to equalize widespread disparities in wealth and development on a regional basis. The 1993 Treaty on European Union set up the Consultative Committee of the Regions, marking the first time that Fourth World nations, city-states, and regions had been recognized as partners in building a new Europe. Thus, those seeking to empower the European Union have often encouraged regionalism as enthusiastically as have proponents of the regions themselves.

      Europe's Fourth World enjoys popular support as well. A 1992 study carried out by the European Commission found that 87% of the Europeans surveyed simultaneously in 12 states felt either strongly or fairly strongly attached to their regions. A Europe of Regions also wins the support of international capital, which is increasingly less concerned with state boundaries. Regions are aware that businesses frequently base their investment decisions on the attributes of regions rather than states—for example, Flanders rather than Belgium or Catalonia rather than Spain.

The Geopolitical Challenge Ahead.

      Amazingly, Europe has returned to a period of geopolitical decentralization after more than two centuries of state building. This came about because, more often than not, attempts to foster state consciousness within a state's entire populace backfired. The trauma of colonization, forced removals, and ethnic violence and genocide resides in the cultural memory of surviving peoples. Sheer persistence on the part of these vital political communities coupled with a European unity movement that tends to reduce the significance of organization by states could signal a major geopolitical reorganization of Europe.

      Richard A. Griggs, formerly a political geographer at the University of Cape Town, is now head of research, Independent Projects Trust, Durban, S.Af., and author of The Role of Fourth World Nations and Synchronous Geopolitical Factors in the Breakdown of States (1996); Peter R. Hocknell is a research officer with the International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham, Eng.

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