Includes index and bibliography.

Acknowledgements; Biographical Notes; Prolegomenon: Prefatory Words by Max van der Stoel, Gudmundur Alfredsson and Morten Kjr̆um; Abbreviations; Introduction by Zelim A. Skurbaty; Autonomy as a Participatory Right in the Modern Democratic State; Legal Appraisal of Autonomy; Problems Related to the Economic Viability of Autonomous Arrangements; Conceptual Issues Pertaining to Autonomy; Meta-Legal and Philosophical Dimensions of Autonomy; Autonomy and Cultural Rights; International Guarantees of Autonomy; Autonomy: The Problem of Irredentism and Cross-Border Cooperation. Autonomy, Participation and Minority Rights Autonomy and Indigenous People; Autonomy, Minorities and Self-Determination; Failed Experiences with Autonomy; Autonomy in the Countries of Transition; Autonomy and Conflict Resolution; National and Regional Experiments with Autonomous Arrangements; Summary Conclusions; Index.

With a scholarly attention to analytical precision, factual accuracy, and scrupulous objectivity the authors of the present volume - coming from such diverse fields as international law, philosophy, ethics, economics, political science, - detail and explore the protean character of autonomy as both a concept (autonomy's subtypes, autonomy vs. other arrangements for the diffusion of power within heterogeneous societies, new definitions of the concept, etc.) and a practice (the potential of autonomy in the peaceful resolution of ethnic conflicts; comparative case studies, ranging from Greenland.