The Research Initiative on Multination States (RIMS) is a three-year project at George
Washington University to explore patterns of asymmetrical governance in multination states.
Toward that end, RIMS will provide a research framework for examining the development and
practice of special status arrangements for minority nations across a diversity of contexts, with
a special focus on the case studies of the Basque Country in Spain, Scotland in the United
Kingdom and to Québec in Canada. Based at the Elliott School of International Affairs, RIMS
grows out of the exploratory research of the Tibet Governance Project at the Sigur Center for
Asian Studies. As such, the challenge of territorial governance in the People’s Republic of
China, and in Tibet in particular, will be treated as a baseline case study for the three-year
project.

Drawing on the preliminary definition of multination states as states in which more than one
group seeks status and recognition as a constitutive member (Bertrand and Laliberté), RIMS
will convene researchers, political theorists, policy specialists and government representatives
in a series of international research seminars to discuss and deliberate different approaches to
conceptualizing the role of asymmetry in the sustainability of territorial governance in
multination states. Through the course of its programs and field-site visits, RIMS will identify
and examine key indicators of sustainability, such as regional economic development, fiscal
policy, legal pluralism and politico-legal recognition. In so doing, RIMS will offer a research
platform for advancing new theoretical and analytical perspectives on emerging patterns and
shifting norms in the structuring of contemporary statehood.