Sovranità popolare, “Questione delle minoranze” e stabilità istituzionale in Europa dal 1920 ad oggi

The end of the First World War ushered in a period of democratic aspirations, promises and dreams of popular sovereignty and self-determination under the banner of the League of Nations. The reality was very different from the outset. The “minority question” provided pretexts for ethnic cleansing, aggressive expansionist policies, and irredentist temptations. For minorities, the possible solutions varied among three main options: emigration, partition, or submission. Each of the three entailed and continues to entail considerable costs, but they are unavoidable as long as one operates within the framework of the nation-state with popular sovereignty. Because, ultimately, in a democratic polis, the fundamental question is: who are the sovereign demos? And this question inevitably includes another: who is excluded from it?