A lot is heard about ethnic based separatist movements, like people of a particular region in a country having issues with people of other
regions within the country. Most of the reasons are ethnic or cultural and the demands
range from territorial autonomy to complete independence.
Why does it happen? Well for that we have to go back in
history. During the age of empires, the political boundaries were not limited
to the cultural boundaries but depended on the ruler's imperial capacities. For
examples: Maratha Empire had conquered and ruled states like Gujarat
and Central India which were culturally distinct. The French Empire ruled
Italy and Spain. The Japanese Empire briefly ruled nations in South East Asia and
Korea. The British, well their rule was in every continent of the world.
When concept of Nation-State emerged, it started changing
political boundaries. Most common factor was language; kingdoms like Prussia,
Saxony, Bavaria etc. joined to form Germany, as they all had a common language
and culture. On the other hand Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated into
Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other smaller regions
because they were culturally distinct.
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| Former Empire and present day nations |
Some remnants of former empires remained as one nation
forming a Federation. Countries like India, Russia and Indonesia are such
examples where every state, subject or province speaks different languages and
are culturally distinct.
Even at present there are some separatist movements taking
place in the world. Scotland recently had a referendum on independence, Catalonia
region of Spain wants independence as they speak Catalan language and not
Spanish. Kurds of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey want to create Kurdistan for
themselves, as they speak Kurdish language but are currently living in Arabic,
Persian and Turkish speaking countries. The main factor for separatist movement
is oppression by the dominant ethnic group. That was the main reason Bangladesh
separated from Pakistan. As the concept of nationalism changes, we will get to
see alteration in the political boundaries on the world map in years to come.
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| Future of the Union Jack |
Interesting read.
ReplyDeleteSure oppression is one thing but do not forget Economics. Ethnic groups will always have their disputes, what continues is trade. We are slowly moving towards a point in world trade where national boundaries are only proving to be a hindrance. Considering the age-old trend of adjusting policies for convenience, either national boundaries will eventually be discarded one by one or policies will be adjusted to facilitate international trade (which unites people and globalizes the world in its own way).
Oh yes! I forgot economical reasons. Regions which have better scope to development and progress by separating will rebel. Catalonia and Venice are such regions.
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