问：什么是民族自决权self determination ?
答：本地区人民或本民族人民在没有任何外来压力的情况下自由地选择自己政治命运的权力。这包括了对内他们希望建立一个什么样的政治体制，对外有独立的外交权。
At its most basic, the principle of self-determination can be defined as a community's right to choose its political destiny. This can include choices regarding the exercise of sovereignty and independent external relations (external self-determination) or it can refer to the selection of forms of government (internal self-determination).
第一个里程碑 洛克的人权理论
约翰 洛克（John Locke，1632年-1704年）是英国的大思想家，哲学家。他的最重要的著作《政府论Two Treatises of Government》是针对欧洲皇权法统之要义“君权神授”观点的强烈反驳。
洛克把“本性法law of nature”的理论发展推向了一个新的阶段，他认为人类社会的本性是在相互帮助的前提下追求舒适，安全，和平的生活。所以，政府的功能就是保护每个个人的这些本性不受侵犯。同时，基督教和本性法认为人人是平等的，那么，统治者（政府）和被统治者应当是契约关系，也就是政府执政必须先获得人民的同意。
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Nationalism was an important factor in the development of Europe. In the 19th century, a wave of romantic nationalism swept the European continent, transforming its countries. Some newly formed countries, such as Germany, Italy and Romania were formed by uniting various regional states with a common "national identity". Others, such as Greece, Poland and Bulgaria, were formed by winning their independence.
The French Revolution paved the way for the modern nation-state and also had a big part in the birth of nationalism. Across Europe radical intellectuals, influenced by Napoleon and the Napoleonic Code, promoted political transformation of Europe. Revolutionary armies carried the slogan of "liberty, equality and brotherhood" and ideas of liberalism and national self-determinism. National awakening also grew out of an intellectual reaction to the Enlightenment that emphasized national identity and developed a romantic view of cultural self-expression through nationhood. The key exponent of the modern idea of the nation-state was the German G. W. Friedrich Hegel. He argued that a sense of nationality was the cement that held modern societies together in the age when dynastic and religious allegiance was in decline.