ABSTRACT
In the last two decades there have been a number of political, social and cultural changes that have clearly influenced the sphere of political legitimacy in liberal democracies and federalism. Among these changes are a rapid process of technological and economic globalization, and what we might call a cultural and national turn associated with the claims of different groups so that they can be constitutionally recognized and politically accommodated within the rules of current liberal democracies. The most significant empirical cases of this turn are those related to minority nations, national minorities, indigenous peoples and transnational migrations.1
