Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 07/2011

Individual Rights Versus Collective Rights

Yalım Eralp

August 2010

Global Political Trends Center

Abstract

To what extent can the rights granted to minorities or ethnic groups lead those groups to integrate into the society they live in? Or do such rights lead to secession? Academicians alone do not debate such questions; politicians, too, are currently debating how to ensure both the rights of minorities and territorial integrity.