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"Autonomy and independence movements"
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Secessionism and the European Union
Secessionist (also called, nationalist, or pro-independence) political parties exist in many countries in the developed world; they raise—and then spend—a lot of money, win votes in elections, and their elected officials serve in seats in local, regional, and national parliaments. Yet, despite all of this effort, there has not been a successful case of secession since 1921 when the Irish Free State effectively seceded from the United Kingdom (UK). Perhaps the biggest issue is that these secessionist political parties have rarely been popular enough to form a government even amongst their core ethnic group. This is further compounded by the fact that secessionist parties have historically been unable to win support from immigrants or people outside their core ethnic and/or linguistic group. Given this context, four central questions are posed in this study including: whether—and also why—any of the secessionist parties have transitioned from ethnic-based to civic-based policy platforms? Why have these secessionist parties not yet achieved independence? And, what role does the European Union (EU) play in facilitating or deterring secession in independence-seeking regions within member states?
This study examines three different cases—Flanders in Belgium, Scotland in the UK, and Catalonia in Spain—to investigate how secessionist political parties are approaching the issue of independence. All of the cases are different with respect to history, governmental structure, and economic situation. Yet all of the cases are similar in some ways—they are close to the same size (in terms of population), operate within mature democratic political systems, have distinct secessionist political parties, and all reside within member states of the EU. Categorically, in all cases, there are also shared influences of the ability of the region to secede: institutions, interests, and ideas.
eBook
Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement
Why do some national movements use violent protest and others nonviolent protest? Wendy Pearlman shows that much of the answer lies inside movements themselves. Nonviolent protest requires coordination and restraint, which only a cohesive movement can provide. When, by contrast, a movement is fragmented, factional competition generates new incentives for violence and authority structures are too weak to constrain escalation. Pearlman reveals these patterns across one hundred years in the Palestinian national movement, with comparisons to South Africa and Northern Ireland. To those who ask why there is no Palestinian Gandhi, Pearlman demonstrates that nonviolence is not simply a matter of leadership. Nor is violence attributable only to religion, emotions or stark instrumentality. Instead, a movement's organizational structure mediates the strategies that it employs. By taking readers on a journey from civil disobedience to suicide bombings, this book offers fresh insight into the dynamics of conflict and mobilization.
eBook
Equaliberty in the Dutch Caribbean
Equaliberty in the Dutch Caribbean is a collection of
essays that explores fundamental questions of equality and freedom
on the non-sovereign islands of the Dutch Caribbean. Drawing on
in-depth ethnographic research, historical and media analysis, the
study of popular culture, and autoethnographic accounts, the
various contributions challenge conventional assumptions about
political non/sovereignty. While the book recognizes the existence
of nationalist independence movements, it opens a critical space to
look at other forms of political articulation, autonomy, liberty,
and a good life. Focusing on all six different islands and through
a multitude of voices and stories, the volume engages with the
everyday projects, ordinary imaginaries, and dreams of equaliberty
alongside the work of independistas and traditional social
movements aiming for more or full self-determination. As such, it
offers a rich and powerful telling of the various ways of being in
and belonging to our contemporary postcolonial world.
eBook
Blood and Belief
The Kurds, who number some 28 million people in the Middle East, have no country they can call their own. Long ignored by the West, Kurds are now highly visible actors on the world's political stage. More than half live in Turkey, where the Kurdish struggle has gained new strength and attention since the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq.
Essential to understanding modern-day Kurds-and their continuing demands for an independent state-is understanding the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party. A guerilla force that was founded in 1978 by a small group of ex-Turkish university students, the PKK radicalized the Kurdish national movement in Turkey, becoming a tightly organized, well-armed fighting force of some 15,000, with a 50,000-member civilian militia in Turkey and tens of thousands of active backers in Europe. Under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan, the war the PKK waged in Turkey through 1999 left nearly 40,000 people dead and drew in the neighboring states of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, all of whom sought to use the PKK for their own purposes. Since 2004, emboldened by the Iraqi Kurds, who now have established an autonomous Kurdish state in the northernmost reaches of Iraq, the PKK has again turned to violence to meet its objectives.
Blood and Beliefcombines reportage and scholarship to give the first in-depth account of the PKK. Aliza Marcus, one of the first Western reporters to meet with PKK rebels, wrote about their war for many years for a variety of prominent publications before being put on trial in Turkey for her reporting. Based on her interviews with PKK rebels and their supporters and opponents throughout the world-including the Palestinians who trained them, the intelligence services that tracked them, and the dissidents who tried to break them up-Marcus provides an in-depth account of this influential radical group.
eBook
Secession and Conflict
The overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 in Iraq opened the door
for Kurdish nationalists to move toward outright independence.
Despite the recent visibility of the Kurds in the international
media, little is known about their political aspirations as
citizens of an autonomous region. In Secession and
Conflict Zheger Hassan employs a comparative analysis to
explore why Iraqi Kurdistan, despite being better positioned
institutionally and economically than the similar cases of South
Sudan and Kosovo, has not declared independence. In rebuilding Iraq
and fighting against the Islamic State, the Kurds have cultivated
important political alliances with the US and Europe, which have
garnered them international economic, military, and political
support. Though now well-positioned to function as an independent
state, Iraqi Kurdistan has vacillated in seizing this golden
opportunity to declare independence. The apparent Kurdish
willingness to forgo independence runs counter to the prevailing
narratives about the Kurds in the Middle East. Hassan draws not
only on the history of the Kurds but also on first-hand interviews
with high-ranking officials, journalists, and nationalists to
provide a new window into the calculations of Kurdish leaders as
they navigate the complicated politics of Iraq. Secession and
Conflict offers a new model for understanding the Kurdish
question in Iraq.
eBook