An all star cast of academic experts offer an important and timely analysis of the pursuit of autonomy. They argue that it is key to move beyond the primarily normative debate about the rights or wrongs of autonomous regions on the basis of cultural concerns, instead focusing on understanding what makes autonomy function successfully.

JACQUES BERTRAND Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, CanadaJAMES BICKERTON Professor of Political Science at St. Francis Xavier University, CanadaISABELLE CÔTÉ PHD candidate at the University of Toronto, CanadaANDRÉ FAZI Member of the CNRS, attached to the University of Corsica, FranceEVE HEPBURN Deputy Director of the Academy of Government at the University of Edinburgh, UK and Senior Research Fellow in PoliticsRÉMI LÉGER Doctoral Candidate in Political Studies at Queen's University, CanadaGENEVIÈVE NOOTENS Professor of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, CanadaFRANCESCO PALERMO Director, Institute for Studies on Federalism and Regionalism in Bozen-Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.DEJAN STJEPANOVÍC Ph.D researcher at the European University Institute of Florence, ItalyMARKKU SUKSI Professor of public law at Âbo Akademi University, FinlandRICARD ZAPATA-BARRERO Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Political Science and Social Sciences at the University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Introduction; M.Keating& A-G.Gagnon PART I: CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES Rethinking Territorial Autonomy; M.Keating Autonomy, Boundaries and Trust: Preliminary Remarks; G.Nootens Reconciling Autonomy, Community and Empowerment: The Difficult Birth of a Diversity School in the Western World; A-G.Gagnon Sub-State Governance through Territorial Autonomy: On the Relationship Between Autonomy and Federalism; M.Suksi PART II: CASE STUDIES Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Territorial Autonomy: Are They Really Incompatible?; F.Palermo Seeking New Autonomies: State Rescaling, Reterritorialization and Minority Identities in Atlantic Canada; J.Bickerton Recrafting Sovereignty: Lessons from Small Island Autonomies?; E.Hepburn Insularity and Autonomy; A.Fazi The 'Canadian School of Diversity' and Francophone Minority Communities; R.Léger Autonomy and Ethnic Diversity: The Case of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China; I.Côté Regions and Territorial Autonomy in Southeastern Europe; D.Stjepanovic Autonomy and Nationalist Demands in Southeast Asia; J.Bertrand Catalan Autonomy Building-Process in Immigration Policy: Conceptual, Institutional and Normative Dimensions; R.Zapata-Barrero Conclusion; A-G.Gagnon& M.Keating