This unique book examines the history of the polity of Tibet, from its formation in the Iron Age, to contemporary challenges such as the continual occupation of the country by China, the self-immolation protests, and the Shugden controversy bedeviling the current Dalai Lama. The tenancity of the current global "Free Tibet" movement suggests that the idea of the State of Tibet may be inherently transnational rather than territorially based. This is most likely the result of Buddhist ideology, which tends to transcend national boundaries.

The history of Tibet has long fascinated the world, and the present controversy about its future-- will it be (again) an independent nation or part of China?--only makes it more interesting. Is the transnational Tibetan movement--a "Tibet outside of Tibet"--a viable expression of self-determination? How will the succession of the aging and revered Dalai Lama affect Tibet and the world? Will China's leadership continue to be intransigent on the "Tibetan question"? These are some of the questions examined in this work, a study of legitimacy, governance, and nationalism in the still-evolving Tibetan state.

Tibet was a fully independent country for most of its existence: In the first millennium, Tibet became a great empire that extended to the India Ocean in the south. It even challenged Tang dynasty China to the east. In 1249 the region became a territory of the Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan, but never became a part of the China region that was annexed by his grandson Kublai Khan in 1279. Tibet reclaimed its independence from the Mongols in 1349, China in 1368. Despite Ming propaganda stating otherwise, Tibet functioned as a completely independent state until the Manchus who formed the Qing dynasty over China began to exert their influence, mostly through the appointment of high commissioners (amban) and trying to control the authorization of titles and the discovery of re-incarnated lamas. However, by 1840, the Qing dynasty was weakening its grip, and Tibet began to resume its independent course. Except for a brief period of occupation by provincial Sichuan troops in the last years of the Manchu Imperium (1909-1911) when the Thirteenth Dalai Lama sought exile in India, the Tibetan government exercised effective control over Tibet as an independent state. It extended mutual recognition with newly-independent Mongolia (1914). Tibet remained independent until communist China invaded it in 1950. Despite promises of autonomy by the People's Republic of China, Tibet remains under tight rule from Beijing.

In 1959, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and about 115,000 Tibetans went into exile. The ruler formed a government-in-exile that is now headed by a popularly elected lay prime minister. The Dalai Lama remains spiritual head of the county, however. In exile, the Dalai Lama and his followers represent an ideology of non-violence and freedom of individual consciousness that is more transnational than nationalistic. It also provides some clues as to the difficulties the former Tibetan state encountered through history. Tibet tended to rely on outside patrons to provide military defence, since its own rulers were divine kings and high priests who astutely tried to avoid karmic pollution. This factor tended to keep Tibet relatively weak in relation to its neighbors, although it carried high moral authority in Central and Inner Asia. This is of course a continuing characteristic of the current Dalai Lama, whose mortal messages appeal to much of the world.