On Soka University of America Week: Autonomous states around the world and the reasons behind them can be misunderstood.
Shane Barter, professor of comparative politics, delves into why.
Dr. Shane Joshua Barter is Professor of Comparative Politics at Soka University of America. He earned his PhD in 2011 at the University of British Columbia. He has published several articles and books related to civilians in Southeast Asian secessionist conflicts, peace and elections, and the prospects for managing secessionism through forms of self-government.
Partial Sovereignty – Self-Government for Minority Nations
My research examines territorial autonomy—special forms of self-government for territorially concentrated minorities. This political system helps to manage secessionist conflict and protect minority cultures. The groups in question typically see themselves not just as ethnic minorities, but rather minority nations, with histories of self-rule before incorporation into host states.
We might know larger autonomous regions in Western democracies: Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia, but also Wales, Åland, South Tyrol, Puerto Rico, and more. Other regions have used autonomy to manage violence, such as Northern Ireland, the Basque Region, Kurdistan, Aceh, Papua, Mindanao, and Bougainville. Autonomy also exists within authoritarian states, where it may provide some cultural protection. Examples are found in Russia, Central Asia, and China. Autonomy can also serve Indigenous peoples, as in Greenland and Nunavut, Panama and Nicaragua, but also smaller territories in Canada, Bolivia, India, and more. The range of cases, powers, and purposes for autonomy underline that it is a flexible and global institution.
Governments typically fear that territorial autonomy will provide regions with a stepping stone to independence. This fear is misplaced. There has yet to be a clear case where special autonomy has led to independence. Rather, a refusal to grant autonomy or trying to rescind leads to new countries.
My research seeks to unravel contradictions inherent in autonomy. While decentralizing power and protecting minorities, autonomous regions tend to be centralized, with groups using autonomous powers to nation-build. This makes it essential to support the rights of minorities within autonomous regions.
At its heart, territorial autonomy confronts the idea of homogenous nation-states—one nation, indivisible—instead recognizing countries as multinational. Autonomy represents a compromise between incorporation into a host state and independence from it, granting partial sovereignty.
Read More:
[Cambridge University Press] – Fighting Armed Conflicts in Southeast Asia
[Springer Nature Link] – Moving within Borders
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