For thirty years, Alain-G. Gagnon has been one of the world’s leading experts on federalism and multinational democracies. In Minority Nations in the Age of Uncertainty, he presents an articulate and accessible introduction to the ways in which minority nations have begun to empower themselves in a global environment that is increasingly hostile to national minorities.


Comparing conditions in Quebec, Catalonia, and Scotland, Gagnon offers six interrelated essays on national minorities, processes of accommodation, and autonomy and self-determination within a modern democratic context. Based on a long career of scholarly study and public engagement, he argues that self-determination for these “nations without states” is best achieved through intercultural engagement and negotiation within the federal system, rather than through independence movements.


Already translated into fifteen languages from the original French, Minority Nations in the Age of Uncertainty is an essential text on the theory of multinational federalism and the politics of minority nations.This edition also features a foreword by noted political scientist and philosopher James Tully that discusses the significance of Gagnon's work.