Man is a territorial animal. A consequence is mass murder that proves that pacifism meant as an antidote for aggression facilitates bloodshed. If land is involved leaders and peoples tend to lose their rationality and their moral compass of decency.
Most conflicts are about claims to real estate. Current events prove that the past continues as the present. Chinas pretentions backed by 10 logic and 90 might claiming the islets of others receive scant attention. Even so it signals conquest once her means match her appetite. For a starter Russia took the Crimea and she is devouring the Ukraine. The unpleasant message: States with Russian ethnics are regardless of their wishes the desert on Putins plate. Thus the presents crisis is not a final"; it is a beginning.
States have a way of disappearing and emerging. Due to the victors after 1918 the defeated multinational empires; the Ottoman the Russian and Austria-Hungary were dissolved. Following the Second World War the colonial empires were liquidated. With the fall of the USSR a further redistribution came about. Thereafter Czechoslovakia itself a successor state of a dissolved empire separated in a civilized fashion. Yugoslavia in fact a Great Serbia" did so amid bloodshed.
As Scotlands case demonstrates the territorial realignment of the world is an ongoing process. Think of the demands involving Padania Basques Catalans Kurds Flemings Tibetans Uyghurs and many others. We might have no alternative but to reshuffle the prevailing political geography. Our choice is limited to the how".
Alas there is no simple and universally practical principle to deal with allegedly national states that contain unwanted aliens". Sometimes separatism (wishing to create a new state) can be as in the case of the Kurds justified. Yet it appears that separatism is less practical than autonomy (local self-government). Some ethnics such as the Szkelys in Transylvania the Magyars in Slovakia the Voivodina and the Ukraine insist that they want home rule (the use of their language and representation) and NOT separation. The model is the Sdtirol" the German province in Italys north or the Swiss cantons. The cause of local self-rule on demand that is favored by this writer is damaged by the separatist wave.
Autonomy if it means local self-rule implies decentralization. That wish as it reduces the centers power enhances the clout of individuals and of the groupings they care to form. Constructive diversity brings more liberty. In the case of areas populated by the indigenous not recent immigrants home rule results in more satisfaction. Enhanced freedom and inclusion results in a stronger country because it will gain from freely extended approval.
Such adjustments are likely to reduce international tensions and instability. Most conflicts involve the control of territory and the desire to grab land. This works best where the coveted target is due to internal divisions unstable and weakened by shunted minorities that feel forced to seek their salvation by exiting".
Often states lack the wisdom to achieve stability through consent. Their political class might be distrustful of democracy and of the kind of regionalism that reflects local peculiarities. This is so because while decentralized democracy bolsters countries it reduces the power of their rulers. Sometimes the support of these is likely to come from an ethnic fraction of the population. Such favored elements become insiders" of the system while the exclusion of other groups will firm the support of the beneficiaries. However those left outside" will as happened in Malikis Iraq be alienated from the country and its system.
Constructions that rely on such a popular dictatorship involve the disdain of a minority and rely on a connected cult of the hostility to neighbors which can unite insiders and bring thereby temporary stability. As in the case of Ceausescus Romania foreigners might be fooled into cheering. Nevertheless such structures are inherently unstable retrograde and ultimately the source of international tension.
Any plea for regionalization needs to admit that localism can be a cover for separatism and as in the case of New Russia" and the Crimea it may serve as a lever to achieve annexation. Furthermore local autonomy might not always hold a country together. If the differences in ethnicity religion development perceived history and values are too great their aggregate will deepen and broaden the dividing ditch.
If separation is the unavoidable solution as in the past between Ireland and England the Czechs and the Slovaks or in the future between several states and the Kurds then borders need to be redrawn and new states must be accepted. At least in Europe the idea of moving borders is officially anathema. Driven to the extreme such a policy can bring unwanted results. Todays diplomacy protects states and rulers; not peoples or individuals. This is the case when elites use force to eliminate the demand for self-rule and government sovereignty" is cited. Since the claim of autonomy invokes ethnicity there is a temptation to create ethnic homogeneity by deporting the indigenous forbidding their language and by diluting their numbers through imported settlers. The ethnic composition of the Baltic States tells that tale.
Indeed often unintentionally the old Empires have moved peoples. The Muslim Albanian majority in Kosovo; the heart of Orthodox Serbia is an example. Quite frequently foreign victors counseled by local experts" with an axe to grind drew borders. The result is bad" borders that ignore ethnicity truncate communities and become the subject of interstate litigation. The fitting cases in Europe Africa and in the Near East are apt to grow into deeper sores unless decentralization makes state boundaries into secondary factors in the daily lives of communities that might be potential nations.
The condition of entire global neighborhoods is defined by the volatility of their component states. Instability is exacerbated by unwise centralism that creates conditions in which irredentists thrive. The resulting tensions of intra- and interstate relations create opportunities for powers inclined to pursue the extension of their sway through annexation. In the light of that we can conclude that the future is not likely to be brighter than is the political intelligence of those that are empowered to make policy.
Man is a territorial animal. A consequence is mass murder that proves that pacifism meant as an antidote for aggression facilitates bloodshed. If land is involved leaders and peoples tend to lose their rationality and their moral compass of decency.
Most conflicts are about claims to real estate. Current events prove that the past continues as the present. Chinas pretentions backed by 10 logic and 90 might claiming the islets of others receive scant attention. Even so it signals conquest once her means match her appetite. For a starter Russia took the Crimea and she is devouring the Ukraine. The unpleasant message: States with Russian ethnics are regardless of their wishes the desert on Putins plate. Thus the presents crisis is not a final"; it is a beginning.
States have a way of disappearing and emerging. Due to the victors after 1918 the defeated multinational empires; the Ottoman the Russian and Austria-Hungary were dissolved. Following the Second World War the colonial empires were liquidated. With the fall of the USSR a further redistribution came about. Thereafter Czechoslovakia itself a successor state of a dissolved empire separated in a civilized fashion. Yugoslavia in fact a Great Serbia" did so amid bloodshed.
As Scotlands case demonstrates the territorial realignment of the world is an ongoing process. Think of the demands involving Padania Basques Catalans Kurds Flemings Tibetans Uyghurs and many others. We might have no alternative but to reshuffle the prevailing political geography. Our choice is limited to the how".
Alas there is no simple and universally practical principle to deal with allegedly national states that contain unwanted aliens". Sometimes separatism (wishing to create a new state) can be as in the case of the Kurds justified. Yet it appears that separatism is less practical than autonomy (local self-government). Some ethnics such as the Szkelys in Transylvania the Magyars in Slovakia the Voivodina and the Ukraine insist that they want home rule (the use of their language and representation) and NOT separation. The model is the Sdtirol" the German province in Italys north or the Swiss cantons. The cause of local self-rule on demand that is favored by this writer is damaged by the separatist wave.
Autonomy if it means local self-rule implies decentralization. That wish as it reduces the centers power enhances the clout of individuals and of the groupings they care to form. Constructive diversity brings more liberty. In the case of areas populated by the indigenous not recent immigrants home rule results in more satisfaction. Enhanced freedom and inclusion results in a stronger country because it will gain from freely extended approval.
Such adjustments are likely to reduce international tensions and instability. Most conflicts involve the control of territory and the desire to grab land. This works best where the coveted target is due to internal divisions unstable and weakened by shunted minorities that feel forced to seek their salvation by exiting".
Often states lack the wisdom to achieve stability through consent. Their political class might be distrustful of democracy and of the kind of regionalism that reflects local peculiarities. This is so because while decentralized democracy bolsters countries it reduces the power of their rulers. Sometimes the support of these is likely to come from an ethnic fraction of the population. Such favored elements become insiders" of the system while the exclusion of other groups will firm the support of the beneficiaries. However those left outside" will as happened in Malikis Iraq be alienated from the country and its system.
Constructions that rely on such a popular dictatorship involve the disdain of a minority and rely on a connected cult of the hostility to neighbors which can unite insiders and bring thereby temporary stability. As in the case of Ceausescus Romania foreigners might be fooled into cheering. Nevertheless such structures are inherently unstable retrograde and ultimately the source of international tension.
Any plea for regionalization needs to admit that localism can be a cover for separatism and as in the case of New Russia" and the Crimea it may serve as a lever to achieve annexation. Furthermore local autonomy might not always hold a country together. If the differences in ethnicity religion development perceived history and values are too great their aggregate will deepen and broaden the dividing ditch.
If separation is the unavoidable solution as in the past between Ireland and England the Czechs and the Slovaks or in the future between several states and the Kurds then borders need to be redrawn and new states must be accepted. At least in Europe the idea of moving borders is officially anathema. Driven to the extreme such a policy can bring unwanted results. Todays diplomacy protects states and rulers; not peoples or individuals. This is the case when elites use force to eliminate the demand for self-rule and government sovereignty" is cited. Since the claim of autonomy invokes ethnicity there is a temptation to create ethnic homogeneity by deporting the indigenous forbidding their language and by diluting their numbers through imported settlers. The ethnic composition of the Baltic States tells that tale.
Indeed often unintentionally the old Empires have moved peoples. The Muslim Albanian majority in Kosovo; the heart of Orthodox Serbia is an example. Quite frequently foreign victors counseled by local experts" with an axe to grind drew borders. The result is bad" borders that ignore ethnicity truncate communities and become the subject of interstate litigation. The fitting cases in Europe Africa and in the Near East are apt to grow into deeper sores unless decentralization makes state boundaries into secondary factors in the daily lives of communities that might be potential nations.
The condition of entire global neighborhoods is defined by the volatility of their component states. Instability is exacerbated by unwise centralism that creates conditions in which irredentists thrive. The resulting tensions of intra- and interstate relations create opportunities for powers inclined to pursue the extension of their sway through annexation. In the light of that we can conclude that the future is not likely to be brighter than is the political intelligence of those that are empowered to make policy.