The role of territorial autonomy in solving ethnopolitical conflicts

The article considers potential opportunities of territorial autonomy as an effective mean of solving and preventing conflicts by way of satisfaction of basic needs of ethnocultural minorities in the boundaries of the unitary state. Different approaches to this matter cause widespread discussions in the political literature concerning peaceful solutions of the conflicts aimed for self-determination. One of the results of these discussions seems quite evident: it presupposes that strict compliance of minority rules is a preliminary condition for peaceful coexistence of different ethnic groups in the society. In the opposite case, the territory-located groups of people would demand their statehood based on self-determination right. The author investigates positive and negative practices of different countries concerning mollification of separative pressure between nationalistic movements and the state. As a result, the author stresses the role and meaning of the political and legal nature of autonomy of the states considered in this article.