Otto Bauer: The idea of nation as a plural community and the question of territorial and non-territorial autonomy

Abstract

This article presents a detailed analysis of the concept of nation in the work of Austro-Marxist Otto Bauer. In his view, the nation is conceived as an evolutionary process of political, open and plural construction. His work also unravels the connections of nation with a plurinational democratic state, which was at the time a novel political and institutional vision. The article argues that his work is very relevant today, with rising complexity of the new contexts of global society and the multiplication of migrations and refugees; and the need to respond through an accommodation of minorities through mechanisms of territorial and non-territorial autonomy. Much of these concerns form the substance of Otto Bauer’s work.