The conference brought together senior and junior academics working on questions of self-determination, state construction and minority protection from a number of disciplines, including political geography, political science and law. In her keynote speech Professor of Anthropology Isabelle Schulte-Tenckhoff discussed the problem of categories in the self-determination and minority rights discourses, a re-appearing theme during the conference. Michael Keating, Professor of Politics, concluded in his keynote speech that we need solutions for individual cases rather than fitting state construction effort into outdated and dysfunctional categories of sovereignty and authority. The conference was an inspiring forum to discuss with colleagues from all over Europe challenges experienced in many regions, in Europe, in Scotland, Catalonia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and which concern minorities, states and international organizations alike.
