This book presents a comprehensive account of the debates on sovereignty, self-determination and nationalist upsurges in India?s Northeast, especially Assam. At a deeper level, it analyses how multi-ethnic societies engage with the nation state. Based on the framework of international relations and geo-politics, the volume locates internal tensions and contradictions among different ethnic groups, alongside the complex interrelationships between the centre and the region. It also proposes a new structure of ?Common Ethnic House? to resolve persistent inter-ethnic tensions among different communities and the impasse between the Northeast and the centre.