"This book addresses the constitutional issues, both in theory and in practice, that accompany the existence of national diversity in pluralist democracies. It focusses in particular upon recent developments in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Spain. Tierney examines the legal issues which arise from the challenges posed by national minorities within multinational democracies, both to the constitutional structures of particular States, and also to some of the fundamental precepts of democratic constitutional theory and practice." "Over the past thirty years, sub-State national minorities in a number of developed liberal democracies have both reasserted their cultural distinctiveness and demanded recognition of it in legal and political terms. This phenomenon has been the subject of considerable study by sociologists, political scientists, and political theorists. This book differs by offering a study of the consequences of these rights claims for legal systems. It examines the role played by law, especially constitutional law, in the negotiation of the complex relationships and competing rights claims involving the State, national minorities, and other groups and individuals within the State."--BOOK JACKET.