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Secession 101

Secession 101. Moving toward a Big World of Small Countries?. Heather McCormic. Outline. Defining Secession Defining Norms Premise for the Study Case Studies Findings Further Research. Defining Secession. Secession.

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Secession 101

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  1. Secession 101 Moving toward a Big World of Small Countries? Heather McCormic

  2. Outline • Defining Secession • Defining Norms • Premise for the Study • Case Studies • Findings • Further Research

  3. Defining Secession

  4. Secession • Secession is the process by which a population subset claims formal autonomy over an occupied territory and removes itself from its parent state by redrawing political boundaries. • Secession begins with revolution

  5. Why Secession Occurs • Grievances and opportunity lead to revolution • Grievances: • State fails to provide for population • State is corrupt or supports unpopular economic and social arrangements • State represses population • State instability or collapse • Relative deprivation “Misery matters.” --Cynthia McClintock

  6. Why Secession Occurs • Opportunity: • State has weak police force, internal conflict, or failing infrastructure • Population overcomes its collective action problem • No fear of regime due to inability to repress, or reassurance of numbers • Communications

  7. Why Secession? • Why populations choose to secede rather than pursue internal reform or regime change is debated • Self-determination as the motivation for secession • Nationalism and nation-state status • Anti-colonial sentiment, or the desire for sub-state or representative self-determination

  8. Defining Norms

  9. Norms • Regulative norms order and constrain behavior • Constitutive norms create new actors, interests, or categories of action

  10. Norm Development

  11. Premise for the Study

  12. Why Secession Matters • Secession is the main mechanism for new state creation • All inhabitable land is claimed • Traditional colonialism has ended • State and international level ramifications • It is an important phenomenon to evaluate using all three major International Relations perspectives

  13. Case Studies

  14. Structure of the Independent Study • Pre-WWI Legacy and Interwar Wilsonianism • Norway • Finland and the Aaland Islands • WWII and Decolonization • Biafra • Bangladesh

  15. Structure of the Independent Study • Post-Cold War and Humanitarianism • The Baltics • Yugoslavia • Georgia • South Sudan

  16. Wilsonianism • Finland andthe Aaland Islands • 1917: Finland recognized by Russia, Sweden, France, and Germany • 1920: Aaland Islands not recognized after appeal to League of Nations

  17. Decolonization • Biafra and the Igbo people • Attempted coups evolved into a plea for secession • 1966: Igbo massacre • States’ responses varied • 1967: Independent region • 1970: Absorbed into Nigeria

  18. Post-Cold War • South Sudan • Southerners’ relative deprivation • 1972: Addis-Ababa Agreement • 1983-2005: Civil war • 2005: Comprehensive Peace Agreement • 2011: Southern secession

  19. Findings

  20. Conclusions • Secession, while being the primary avenue for state creation, will not be a frequent occurrence in the future • However, the international community will more readily recognize states formed through secession • The new humanitarian norm will supersede the old norm of maintaining the territorial integrity of the parent state

  21. Further Research

  22. Where from here? • Why populations pursue secession in particular • How the admission of states formed via secession altered the balance in the League of Nations and United Nations • What regional norms were established (in the European Community, African Union, etc.)

  23. Acknowledgements • Professor David Dessler • Professor Katherine Rahman • My Liege, Professor Dennis Smith • Family and Friends • Mom and Dad

  24. Thank you. Questions?

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