Lingue, nazioni e diritti dei popoli nell’ordine internazionale

Russia’s claims over Ukraine have resurrected the question of how to define the collective subjects entitled to statehood, on which the possibility of a peaceful international order rests. The article traces the history of the language-based principle of nationality and tracks its roots in the institutional tradition of the Latin Church. Underlying it is the search for a balance between "particularity and universality," which is also found in the most recent definition of "peoples' rights" in the Church's social doctrine.