Irredentism in the context of uniting ethnopolitical movements: matter and specificity

• Main Author: N. V. Gorlo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House "Grani" 2015-05-01
• Series: Granì
• Subjects: розділений народ; об’єднавчі етнополітичні рухи; іредентизм; етнічний уніонізм; пан­націоналізм; багатоетнічна держава
• Online Access: https://grani.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/246

The purpose of the article is the specification of the peculiarities of irredentism through the process of conducting the comparative research of irredentism with other forms of uniting ethnopolitical movements – unionism and pan­nationalism. Irredentism is viewed as the form of unionism since it is focused on the union of groups of separated nations. In addition, it is the way of realization of pan­nationalistic ideas. The historical research of the cognition of irredentism in Greece and Italy states, that the main idea of irredentism was the union of the separated nations when the mail part of the nation has already created a national state and desires to annex other parts of the nation which are under foreign rule. The specific feature of irredentism is the selective nature of its factors that are the base of the strategy formation of the unity of nations: language, same cultural elements, or common judgments about the past. Irredentism has destructive potential since it threatens the territorial integrity of a country in which irredenta lives. Irredentism differs from ethnic unionism and pan­nationalism by this attribute – ethnic unionism and pan­nationalism usually declare the union of already formed ethnopolitical formations. Among the ways of coping with the destructive influence of irredentism on the political stability in multiethnic states are the open dialog between the representatives of different ethnic groups and the implementation of reasonable regional policy.