Selfdetermination In Western Democracies: Aboriginal Politics In A Comparative Perspective (Contributions In Political Science),Used

This interdisciplinary study offers an analytical and theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics of political change and selfdetermination when indigenous people assert claims of aboriginal status. How have certain peopleswho make up less than two percent of the national population, who are poor, and who are dispersed and on the economic and political periphery of the modern western democracies where they livebeen able to extract legislative and constitutional concessions that allow them greater selfdetermination from large, wealthy, and powerful ethnonational groups? Werther's findings, which contradict existing ideas, should be of considerable interest to students and scholars in political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, international and constitutional law, and intellectual history.Following a brief introduction about selfdetermination movements as quiet revolutions and a discussion of theoretical method, the study defines aboriginal status and discusses the macrostructuring of political claims, micropolitical processes and clashes of claims, and aboriginal status in six democratic states. Appendixes point to people claiming aboriginal status in the countries under study, list those who can legitimately assert this status, and offer some considerations on basic definitions important to this crossdisciplinary study. A bibliography is also provided.