(i’m sorry before writing my long thread i somehow did not see all of yours. i like the Wimmer conclusion and think it broadly right about desirable end states. a successful state project will involve some combination of assimilation that reduces subgroup difference…

and recognition that gives subgroups a stake in the project where difference remains! the dispute is whether a moral rule can insist that the contours of the eventually desirable settlement can be imposed as a constraint…

prior to the negotiations, struggles, accommodations inherent to the state building project. my claim is that’s a terrible idea that in practice has done a very great deal of harm.)