Nationalist theories are still controversial, while the process and frequent failures of national integration are issues of central importance in the contemporary world. Birch''s argument is illustrated by detailed and topical case studies of national integration in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia: the United Kingdom, with the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish and the coloured minorities; Canada, with its Anglo-French tensions, its cultural pluralism and its indigenous peoples claiming the right of self-government; Australia, with its increasing ethnic diversity and its failure to integrate the Aborigines.
