Nationalist multiculturalism in late imperial Austria as a critique of contemporary liberalism: The case of Bauer and renner

Abstract

Abstract This article evaluates Bauer's theory of the nation and the debate on national‐cultural autonomy in late imperial Austria. It finds important similarities with contemporary liberal debates on multiculturalism and the rights of ethnic and national minorities. It argues that the debate on national‐cultural autonomy went in some respects beyond the contemporary debate on multiculturalism. National‐cultural autonomy rejects the idea of the nation‐state and proposes instead a multi‐nation‐state that recognises differential rights for ethnic and national minorities. It seeks to break the limitations of liberal democracy and the territorial principle of the nation‐state by organising national communities as deterritorialised national corporations, and multi‐nation‐states as territorialised non‐national identities.