1 / 15

Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic Conflict . National Self-Determination: The Morality Argument. Last Class. In our last class, among other things, we discussed the conflicting legal aspects of nationalist-separatist movements State Sovereignty (Westphalia) National Self-Determination

klemm
Download Presentation

Ethnic Conflict

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Ethnic Conflict National Self-Determination: The Morality Argument

  2. Last Class • In our last class, among other things, we discussed the conflicting legal aspects of nationalist-separatist movements • State Sovereignty (Westphalia) • National Self-Determination • Today, we will discuss moral aspects of the nationalist-separatist arguments

  3. Morality of Secession • Many of the ethnic groups do suffer from: • Political repression • Economic repression • Cultural repression • Discrimination, both de jure and de facto • Many exist in non-democratic states • But, many exist in democratic states

  4. Morality of Secession • Many are, indeed, minorities at risk http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/ • Does this offer the nationalist groups a moral right to secede?

  5. Morality of Secession • Is there a Right to Secede in Natural Law? • Right of Resistance exists, but not in an unqualified manner • Nor does it include a Right to Secede for the group • However, there is precedent for secession: • Creation of Poland • Enosis of Crete • Several treaties (Congress of Vienna onward)

  6. Buchheit’s Secession Models • Remedial Model • International law recognizes that there is a continuum of redresses for an ethnic group against the state, dependent on the grievances received • Secession is the ultimate remedy • Parochial Model • All that is required is a “Self”—an ethnic group that: • Is capable of self-government • Increases the peace in the region (both the containing state and the seceding state)

  7. Buchheit’s Secession Models • Well conceived • Well thought out • Ingenious • Not realistic • How is level of disruption measured? • Is a measure disruption even objective?

  8. Deconstructing Sovereignty • Gottlieb’s idea: Separate the idea of sovereignty, the basis of the international state system (and a tradition) into two separate aspects: • Sovereignty over People • Sovereignty over Territory • Central government keeps sovereignty over territory • Regional (ethnic) governments receive sovereignty over (their) people

  9. The Maastricht Option • In the European Union: • Once sovereign states have given up their absolute sovereignty to a supra-state organization (EU). • Mayall’s idea is very much like federalism • Central government has certain powers • Regional (ethnic) governments have other powers

  10. Twelve Moral Arguments(Buchanan) • Defense of liberty • Promotion of diversity • Safeguard liberalism (allow illiberal groups to secede) • Original purpose of union obsolete • Union explicitly allows for secession • Violations of Natural Rights by containing state

  11. Twelve Moral Arguments (Buchanan) • Pareto optimal to secede • Nation-state is optimal • Cultural diversity increases • Self-defense of the group • Rectification of past injustices • Loss of fairness in the state

  12. More Moral Arguments(Heraclides) • Nationhood • Alien Domination • Four requirements for moral secession • Existence of a sizeable, distinct, and compact community supporting autonomy • Pattern of systematic discrimination, exploitation, or domination by the state against the community

  13. More Moral Arguments(Heraclides) • Four requirements for moral secession • Policy of cultural domination and erosion of the community’s culture, language, religion, etc. • State’s rejection of dialogue designed to solve the above three problems

  14. So… • Under what conditions is secession morally correct? • This is the fundamental question that underlies all secession movements • A secondary question is this: If a secession movement is morally right, what means can they use to achieve their goals?

  15. Assignment • In addition to the reading, I would like you to come to class on Friday with two pages laying out the history of the ethnic conflict in Rwanda • We will use Rwanda as a small case study on Friday, complete with a video

More Related