Separatism

Jane Jacobs, writing from her adoptive country, uses the problems facing an independence-seeking Quebec and Canada as a whole to examine the universal problem of sovereignty and autonomy that nations great and small have struggled with throughout history. Using Norway’s relatively peaceful divorce from Sweden as an example, Jacobs contends that Canada and Canadians—Quebecois and Anglophones alike—can learn important lessons from similar sovereignty questions of the past.

This book proposes and tests a ‘theory of separatism’ to determine if there are key commonalities as to why separatist movements rise and what fuels them. In the post-Cold War period separatism has been on the rise. Today, there are more than 100 active separatist movements, with around 70 of them engaging in violence. This book focuses on examples from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to highlight the commonalities found across the case studies. It examines the idea of separatism, to better understand what drives movements to break away from preexisting states; demonstrates the factors which produce both violent separatism and the rise of armed non-state actors; and shows the options for the resolution of such conflict, based on considering claims for separatism from the perspectives of separatist movements. This book will be applicable for undergraduate and postgraduate students of International Relations and International Politics as well as Conflict/Peace Studies, Anthropology and Post-Colonial Studies.

This book offers a comparative view of nine historic separatist movements, some of which have achieved the break-up of an empire or a state, and others that to date have not. The authors analyze the long term effects of secession: after partition, ethnic strife typically continues for generations; minorities decline in status; and democracy and human rights are derogated.

Wars fought for political separation have become omnipresent in post-colonial Africa. From the division of Sudan, to the continued fragmentation of Somalia, and the protracted struggles of Cabinda and Azawad, conflict over seccession and separation continues to the present day. This is the first single volume to examine the historical arc of secession and secessionist conflict across sub-Saharan Africa. Paying particular attention to the development of secessionist conflicts and their evolving goals, Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa draws on case studies and rigorous research to examine three waves of secessionist movements, themselves defined by international conflict and change. Using detailed case studies, the authors offer a framework to understand how secession and separation occur, how these are influenced by both preceding movements and global political trends, and how their ongoing legacies continue to shape African regional politics. Deeply engaging and thoroughly researched, this book presents a nuanced and important and important new overview of African separatist and secessionist conflicts. It addresses the structures, goals, and underlying influences of these movements within a broader global context to impart a rich understanding of why these conflicts are waged, and how they succeed or fail.

Since 2011, civil wars and state failure have wracked the Arab world, underlying the misalignment between national identity and political borders. In Break all the Borders, Ariel I. Ahram examines the separatist movements that aimed to remake those borders and create new independent states. With detailed studies of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the federalists in eastern Libya, the southern resistance in Yemen, and Kurdish nationalist parties, Ahram explains how separatists captured territory and handled the tasks of rebel governance, including managing oil exports, electricity grids, and irrigation networks. Ahram emphasizes that the separatism arose not just as an opportunistic response to state collapse. Rather, separatists drew inspiration from the legacy of Woodrow Wilson and ideal of self-determination. They sought to reinstate political autonomy that had been lost during the early and mid-twentieth century. Speaking to the international community, separatist promised a more just and stable world order. In Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Libya, they served as key allies against radical Islamic groups. Yet their hopes for international recognition have gone unfulfilled. Separatism is symptomatic of the contradictions in sovereignty and statehood in the Arab world. Finding ways to integrate, instead of eliminate, separatist movements may be critical for rebuilding regional order.

This book provides a comparative survey of recent attempts at secession and separatist movements from across Europe and Asia, and assesses the responses of the respective host governments. With political analysis of recent cases ranging from the Balkans, the USSR, the UK and the Basque Country, to Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Tibet and Taiwan, the authors identify both similarities and differences in the processes and outcomes of secessionist and separatist movements across the two distinct regions.

First published in 1986, Sikh Separatism is a comprehensive study of the emergence of Sikh unrest in India. The appearance of Sikh fundamentalism and separatism is not a sudden development. They are both shown to have deep social and historical roots linked to the growth of contemporary Sikh identity, community and organization. The genesis of Sikh communal consciousness and organization lies in a social and religious reform movement among Sikhs from the 1870s to the 1920s. This movement is believed to have moulded Sikh perceptions of their political interests and resulted in the establishment of an institutional framework which has served as an arena and a base for Sikh separatism. The development of this reform movement and its motivations, the strategies and tactics employed by the reformers and its profound political implications are examined. This book will be of interest to students of political science, international relations, and South Asian studies.

Wagner's account serves as an expos of how (mainly liberal) federal government policies have been designed to exploit the West, and Alberta in particular. This is a book that deserves to be read by every citizen concerned with this province's peculiar politics.--Dr. Leon Craig, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta.