Break up of States

Break up of States

1. process of de-colonisation

   • Africa is evidence of de-cononliasation, agreements of where Africa was possessed, seen through straight lines of boundaries
   • this does not only impact the country who self-determined
   • 1991 saw a massive explosion of new states in EU

2. three methods of break up

   • separation
     • consent given
   • dissolution
     • no government exists anymore
   • Secession
     • no consent given
   • difference of the three is in the attitude of the already existing territorial state

3. terra nulli is historical fact

   • to form new states, territory must be taken from older state

4. SEPARATION

   • voluntary loss of territory which creates a new sovereign entity
   • most common method not controversial
   • new states are recognised normally, as the rest of the world follows the original territory
     • Scottish Referendum; England said they would recognise them
     • Spanish Government refused to recognise the State of Catalonia, therefore the rest of the world would not
   • examples; Norway from Sweden (1905), Ireland from GB (1922), Iceland from Denmark (1944), Singapore from Malaysia (1965)

5. DISSOLUTION

   • where territorial state disappears, where there is a dissolution; there is the possibility of new states
     • eg. state collapses
   • Dissolution by consent
     • In 1991 Supreme Soviet officially dissolved the USSR
       • State agreed to dissolve itself
       • One state disappeared and 15 emerged
   • 'Forced' Dissolution: Yugoslavia
     • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)
       • Croatia and Slovenia wanted to be part of the EU, therefore ignored the federal government and EU recognised them
         • creation of new states through the will of the people
           • important for self-determination
       • Kosovo didn't emerge as a state at this time, did not have federal recognition (only autonomy), therefore did not become a state
       • Badinter Committee was set up to advise
       • federal state, federal government represents the components of the Federation
   • don't want a sovereignty vacuum

6. SECCESSION

   • most controversial establlshment of new state
     • without consent of central government
   • International Law is law made by states
     • international law is not supportive of Seccession to create new states
   • three bases for claim of self-determination
     • still need the requirements to be a state (1) effective control (2) control over population (3) capacity to enter into international agreements
     • self-determination
     • NATURAL RIGHT
       • world is comprised of nation groups
         • eg. catalunia, scotland, france
         • due to the importance of language and culture have a right to be a state and can argue a right of self-determination
       • idea is traced back to Woodrow Wilson
         • outlined War aims in WWI; Poland should include territories inhabited by Polish populations
       • Paris Peace Conference
         • idea that states should be drawn on ethnic lines
         • After WWI decision to carve empire on basis of identification of ethnic groups
     • HUMAN/CIVIL RIGHT
       • nations are arbitrary beings, what matters is individuals
       • eg. scotland does not exist as a reality
     • UN decolonisation process
       • Declaration on the granting of Independence to Colonial Territories and Peoples (1960)
       • self determination of all colonised people
         • targeted territories eg. Nigeria
       • became a globalised principle
   • Article 1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966): All peoples have the right of self-determination
     • but does this mean that internal peoples have a right to secession?
     • still have to be a state! (requirements)
     • Rights to Secession
       • Remedial Right
         • where part of the population is excluded from public life and subject to serious human rights violations, as a last resort
         • eg. Bangladesh, eastern and western Pakistand, without consent of central government, which still exists
           • except, Bangladesh was not admitted to UN until after Pakistan recognised it
       • Promissory Secission
         • constitutional or international agreement
           • state promises that there is an independence vote
         • if voted in favour, then this triggers the right to self-determination
         • if the state promises and delivers = separation
         • if state goes back on its word = process of state hood is triggered
           • promise is upheld
         • eg. Montenegor, South Sudan
       • Democratic Secession
         • positive in a VALID referendum in support of independence
         • eg. Kosovo? Crimea?
         • if you vote for independence, then you have a right to independence
           • democratic legitimacy
           • still must adhere to state requirements
         • contraversial