Description
Book SynopsisAs we approach the millennium the world is experiencing civil wars exclusivelyhalf of which are being waged over the issue of secession. 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. Separatist struggles occur in waves that tend to coincide with upsurges of democratization. Several chapters explore this connection, making comparisons with economic and geopolitical causes. 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. The break-up of one state often leads to further fragmentation, as in the disintegration of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, where years later separatism unfolded in the successor states of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Palestine, Chechnya and Tatarstan. The authors attribute much of today''s separatism to the demagoguery of politicians losing legitimacy in post-communist states, for whom nationalism is a convenient populist ideology. A broader explanation, however, points to the failure of modern democracies to develop constitutional mechanisms reconciling the expression of particularistic identities with the universalism of citizenship. The book reviews proposals toward that end.
Trade ReviewA powerful, practical demonstration of the unacceptably high human, social, economic, political, and military costs of separatism and partition through wars of secession. The book proposes political alternatives to promote democracy and protect minority rights through non-territorial electoral constituencies and weighted referendums. Valuable to scholars in many fields and highly recommended as a supplementary college reading, the book is also vital to anyone in the media and the public concerned with multicultural conflict and current international events. -- Andre Gunder Frank, University of Toronto
The book makes a significant contribution to research on racism by shedding light on the process of the construction of racialized identities, as well as the interconnectednessof race and gender as social constructs. The deconstruction of racial and gender difference in white supremacist discourse reveals their construction to be a political act shaped by power relations. * Sociological Abstracts, April 2000 *
This Volume brings an interdisciplinary perspective to the analysis of various separatist movements for the purpose of generating discourse that could eventually lessen the human suffering that accompanies such movements. * Sociological Abstracts, April 2000 *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 When States Divide Chapter 4 Separatism: Rationality and Irony Chapter 5 The Economics of Secession Chapter 6 The Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Chapter 7 Citizenship and the Collapse of the State: The Ottoman Case Chapter 8 Who or What Broke Up the Soviet Union? Chapter 9 The Breakup of Yugoslavia Chapter 10 The Partition of Czechoslovakia Chapter 11 Chechen Separatism Chapter 12 Negotiating Autonomy: Tartarstan, Asymmetrical Federalism, and State Consolidation in Russia Chapter 13 The Tamil Secessionist Movement in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Chapter 14 Quebec: A Unique Case of Secessionism Chapter 15 Conclusions Chapter 16 Select Bibliography Chapter 17 Index
