Šta otcepljenje može da pruži
What Can a Secession Offer?

Summary/Abstract: Secession has now become the principal instrument of state creation. But why are new states still being created, after most of the former European colonies gained independence? A large number of national or ethnic minority groups feel that they are still living under foreign rule. Moreover, within the current state system, gaining independence and entry into the UN, offers both status and situational advantages to the groups that control the state: their ruling elites gain full control over the territory and population of the state, including its resources, economy and cultural life. Some of these benefits can be also achieved within a federal or devolved-power system of a host state. Within a multinational federation, a minority national group and its elite can gain control over its political, economic and cultural life, comparable to the control it would exercise in an independent state of its “own”. However, the host states are sometimes “fickle” and prone to revoking autonomy and removing the elected officials (from minority groups) in the federal or devolved-power units. Moreover, in an independent state the elites of a former minority group gain sovereign powers which they cannot gain in a federation and a minority becomes a majority controlling its “own” state. In view of the advantages and benefits of independent statehood, it is not likely that even a world state – an ideal endorsed by many liberal theorists – would be immune to the challenges of secession. Until these advantages disappear, we are likely to continue living in an era of secessions.

• Details
• Contents