The titular nation is the single dominant ethnic group in a particular state, typically after which the state was named. The term was first used by Maurice Barrès in the late 19th century.
Soviet Union
The notion was used in the
Soviet Union to denote nations that give rise to titles of autonomous entities within the union: Soviet republics, autonomous republics, autonomous regions, etc., such as
Byelorussian SSR for
Belarusians.
For an ethnos to become a Soviet titular nation, it had to satisfy certain criteria in terms of the amount of population and compactness of its settlement. The language of a titular nation was declared an additional (after Russian) official language of the corresponding administrative unit.
China
The People's Republic of China
government has adopted some of the principles behind this Soviet concept in its
ethnic minority policy—see Autonomous administrative divisions of China.
Yugoslavia
The federal republics of Socialist Yugoslavia were perceived as nation-states of the constitutional peoples.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, only Bosnia and Herzegovina was not defined in its constitution as a nation-state of its titular nation.
See also
