Why achieving sovereignty still matters: The case of Catalonia as a stateless nation in the globalised world (original) (raw)
Related papers
SECESSIONISMS IN EUROPE: SOCIETIES, STATES AND THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER UNDER STRESS
Ideology and Politics Journal, 2019
In spite of development of international and global institutions, the modern state remains a powerful construct as the legitimate means of political organization and the exclusive location of political authority. Contemporary states went through a long process of institutionalization marked by the milestones like the Westphalian peace, age of the world imperial system, The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, decolonization, Helsinki treaty, and globalization. Despite this long history, the modern state system does not fully deliver on its promise of order and security, and often leads to contestation of territorial integrity and alternative claims to sovereignty. Such claims occur within existing recognized states from groups which feel themselves excluded and prefer to aspire to their own statehood and international status. By implication, competing claims to statehood can turn into seemingly 'frozen conflicts', as local authorities embark upon their state-building projects in the absence of international recognition, while still participating in peace talks. Contemporary Europe has evolved into a complex and contradictory set of states within an international order at risk.
2021
This book analyses the complex phenomenon of secession as a form of creation of States from the perspective of international law. As opposed to other approaches based on the analysis of the political foundation of the secessionist processes or on the construction of a legal basis that justifies the existing practice, the aim is to provide an explanation of secession as a practice covered neither by the legal regime of the United Nations for the self-determination of colonial peoples nor by the regulations and guidelines relating to the human rights of minorities and indigenous populations, both in the UN and in regional organisations (Organization of American States, Council of Europe or African Union). It is stated that secession is a practice that does not comply with international peremptory normssuch as those that prohibit going against the territorial integrity of the States, the use of force or intervention in the internal affairs of other States. Even being aware of the inevitable consequences of the effective creation of States and other de facto entities on trade relations, communications and the rights of individuals, among other matters, secession is a practice that should lead to an obligation of nonrecognition by States and by international organisations. As an example of this practice, the secessionist process in Catalonia since 2014 is explained and studied.
Nationalism Secessionism and Autonomy
Regional and Federal Studies, 2022
André Lecours’s Nationalism, Secessionism and Autonomy addresses the following puzzle: why did secessionism strengthen in Catalonia and Scotland but not in Flanders and South Tyrol at a time when all four cases enjoyed a similar degree of autonomy? Lecours forcefully argues that the answer lies in the state and, specifically, the nature of autonomy provided to internal national communities. The book’s main argument is that static autonomy stimulates secessionism (because it reduces self-determination options to the status quo and independence) while dynamic autonomy staves it off (because it involves ongoing adjustments to the interests and identity of the internal national community).
Self-Government and Secession: the Case of Nations
Journal of Political Philosophy, 1997
D uring the last decade a large number of nations have sought to secede. In the Baltic region Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have declared independence. In addition, following a referendum on 1 December 1992 in which 90.3 per cent of Ukrainians voted for independence, the Ukraine decided to secede from the former Soviet Union. 1 Similarly in the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia±Hercegovina all declared independence. Furthermore, on 1 January 1993 the Czechs and Slovaks dissolved their union and formed two independent states. Moreover, in other states there are secessionist movements which have not attained what they seek. Some French-speaking Que Âbe Âcois, some Tamils, some Chechens and a small number of Basques and Catalans demand self-determination. Similarly, some Abkhazians seek to withdraw from Georgia and set up their own independent state and in the Punjab some Sikhs wish to secede from India. Furthermore, in the United Kingdom there has been renewed pressure (resisted by the Conservative government) from some Scots for national self-determination. In this paper I want to consider whether nations should be allowed to secede. To answer this question I shall begin by considering whether national self-determination is defensible and then ask whether this justi®es national secession? 2 Many arguments have been given to defend national self-determination. In Section I of this paper I examine some of these arguments. It is not possible to consider all the possible justi®cations of national self-government and so I have
Przegląd Prawniczy Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2019
The aims of this contribution is to check the validity of the old theory, which goes back to Jellinek but is still dominant, which states that secession as well as the process of forming a new state, fall under the scope of a “simple fact” and thereby escape through definition to any law of way. According to this theory, secession is not a question of “Law” but a question of pure fact, failure or success: if a secessionist movement succeeds in establishing a new effectiveness, that is to say, puts in place the “Constituent elements” of a state, a new state is born. It is interesting to observe that with the phenomenon of the rise or the collapse of States, from the global perspective of international order and especially from the point of view of international law, the States concerned are, in practice, not simply left to their fate. On the contrary, the rise or the collapse of a State anywhere in the world is seen as a matter of concern for the international community, since the in...
Secession and Secessionism, 2015
This short post discusses the principal elements of secessionist projects, distinguishes such projects from separatism, irridenta and decolonisation and outlines various obstacles that secessionist mobilization faces. It argues that secessionists projects can be (and are) carried out by various means, including violence. This is a commissioned post on the H-Nationalism network.