A Conflict between National Self-Determination and International Peace

Abstract

The problem of national minorities arises from the conflict between the ideal of the homogeneous nation state and the reality of ethnic heterogeneity. National minorities are regarded as potentially subversive elements when they are perceived as potential allies to the states from which they have come or to which they have ethnic ties. During times of war and during post-war peace settlement negotiations, the exchange and transfer of national minorities is often conceived as a means of punishing aggressive states and their accomplices in other countries. This is the logical consequence of the doctrinal ascendency of nation building in the modern state. In fact, the transfer of national minorities is the definitive solution to the question of nationality. Throughout the 20^th century, large scale population transfer and population exchange occurred during three major changes in the international order: World War Ⅰ, World War Ⅱ, and at the end of the Cold War. It is generally regarded that each of these instances of ethnic cleansing, took place as part of a peace settlement. This article challenges conventional wisdom regarding the ethnic cleansing that has taken place at these major changes in the international world order.

This article presents two central arguments. First, I argue that the transfer of national minorities took place as a means to prevent future conflict. Second, I argue that the ethnic cleansing that took place at the end of major wars was carried out for the purposes of building homogeneous nations.