National Liberation Movements

National liberation movements aim to free a certain geographical territory and its population (nation) from a regime considered as suppressive and / or foreign-ruled. As the demand for national liberation radically puts the existing balances of power into question, the resulting encounters frequently take a violent course. Both the understanding of what a 'nation' is and that of what constitutes 'freedom' or 'liberation' are constructed discursively and are subject to historical and regional changes. In general, when viewing the history of the Americas there are three paradigms under which national liberation movements have been constituted: 1. in the 18th and 19th centuries, the paradigm of the foundation of nation states by the colonies declaring their independence. 2. In the 20th century, the combination of social and national liberation as an antiimperialistic battle. 3. Since the final decades of the 20th century, an increasing ethnic selfdefinition of sectors of population and their fight for a right to self-determination within the boundaries of a then plurinational state.