Main Strategies Of

Governance In Deeply

Divided Societies.

Autonomy /
Accommodation.
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 Autonomy /
Accommodation

★ Introduction.

In the present era ethnic conflicts often arise. Many strategies are often
used to solve problems between deeply divided societies. Such as ;
Majority Distancing, Assimilation (Acculturation), Integration,
Accommodation (Autonomy).

Autonomy plays a key role when comparing with the other strategies
to solve problems between deeply divided societies.

★ Defining Autonomy.

➢ There is no working definition to Autonomy.

➢ Markku Suski, a leading scholar of autonomy, provides " No solid

theory underpins autonomy, because autonomy

arrangements are often very pragmatic and hoc solutions
that escape generalisations."
➢ There appears to be a core understanding of the definitional and
institutional meaning of autonomy.

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➢ The meaning is accommodation of the ethnic diversity. ('

ethnic' used to refer to various kinds of distinction among

people : religion, language, culture, history).

★ Purposes of Autonomy.

The case of Autonomy rests on three major principles.

Such as ;

1. Minority rights,

2. Indigenous rights

&

3. Right to self determination.

Often the purpose of autonomy is the

accommodation of the ethnic diversity.

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John McGarry provides the Rationale of accommodation which is the
process of reconciling minority issues through adoption of
policies that are focused on “adjustment to the special interests

and needs of minority groups”.

➢ Which requires the recognition of more than one ethnic, linguistic,

national, or religious community in the state. Means celebration of
diversity, identity and spaces.

➢ It aims to secure the coexistence of different communities within the

same state through various modes of power sharing.

➢ In this mode, the minority communities are granted the

powers necessary to regulate matters associated with their identity
and its related rights.

Practical situation.

1992 UN Declaration protects the Rights of Minorities.

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➢ But there can be other purposes too.

○ Other purposes.

1) Autonomy also connected to the decentralisation, away from

monopolisation of power at the centre.

2) Autonomy refers not only to specific constitutional arrangements,

but also to practices and attitudes to politics, dialogue,

openness and so on - a framework of mind and national

orientation.

3) Autonomy has the aim to achieve power sharing. For an

example ; South Tyrol.

4) Autonomy cannot self-determination.

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 What is meant by
self-determination.

SELF-DETERMINATION.
● Self-determination and secession constitute central

issues of International law and Constitutional Law.

● Peoples and minorities in many parts of the world

assert a right to self-determination, autonomy, and

even secession which conflicts with the respective

mother states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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There is no working definition to self -determination.

Self-determination.

A general definition of the right of self -determinationmay be framed

as follows:

(i) self-determination is a right of peoples who do not govern

themselves;

(ii) the identity and desires of such peoples may be ascertained

through various means, such as international commissions of

inquiry, and facts,such as the actual struggle of a people to

assert its identity;

&

(iii) while self-determination may take various forms, including

continued association with an existing state, a strong

preference is placed on the bestowal of statehood on the people

in question .

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 Historical Revolution of
self-determination.

Self-determination, since its inception during the nineteenth century,

has merged two potentially incompatible values ; popular
sovereignty & nationalist resentment.

National self-determination therefore be viewed as a reconciliation of

competing ideals. The rules of the people and the rules of the
virtuous.

Self-determination started off as a political concept which was

promoted by the protagonists of the American Declaration

of Independence and the French Revolution.

1. American revolution.

The declaration of independence was held in 1776. American

revolutionary war, also known as the American war of
independence, was initiated by the thirteen original colonies in Congress
against the kingdom Great Britain over their colonial representation.

2. Latin America revolution.

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The Latin American wars of independence were the various revolutions that
took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and resulted
in the creation of a number of independent countries in Latin
America.

These revolutions followed the American and French revolution,

which had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese & French
colonies in the Americans.

Haiti, a French slave colony, was the first to follow the United States to
independence, during the Haitian Revolution.
Creoles in South America, led by Simon Bolivar, followed with
revolutions of their own gaining independence for the rest of Latin
America.

3. First World War

First World War held in 1914-1918. The concept of self-determination

is closely identified with the United States
President Woodrow Wilson, who first used the term publicly in
1918.

At the end of World War I, Wilson urged the principle of

self-determination upon the remnants of the European Concert.

The principle was purported to be the basis of the subsequent Versailles

Peace Settlement of 1919.

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The foundations of the Wilsonian principle of self-determination, as
indicated by Whelan, lay in a number of ideas which evolved over the
centuries to shape the modern world.

The fundamental idea that the people are sovereign, and not subjects

of the state, developed through the English, French, and American Revolutions.

Second, as kingdoms became consolidated, and feudal imperial

claims were eroded, the sovereignty of the State in

international affairs emerged.

Third, ethnic nationalism threatened the great multinational empires

of Europe in the nineteenth century and aided their collapse in the

twentieth.

President Wilson proposed a post-war order informed by the notion that

ethnically identifiable peoples of nations would
govern themselves, this being consistent with the earlier slogan of
"the defence of small nations".

This idea was accepted at Versailles, as being "a principle of statecraft,

rather than justice."

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Wilson's concern for oppressed ethnic minorities led to three of the
central elements of the post-war settlement:

● A scheme whereby identifiable peoples were to be accorded

Statehood;

● The fate of disputed border areas was to be decided by plebiscite;

&
● Those ethnic groups too small or too dispersed to be eligible for
either of the above courses of action were to benefit from the
protection of special minorities regimes, supervised by the Council
of the new League of Nations.

But these policies aren't accepted.

4. Second World War.

Second World War held in 1939 to 1945. In the Second World War several
colonies were demanded to self-determination.

5. The United Nations Charter.

Following World War 1I, the United Nations, as successor to the League of
Nations, developed the Wilsonian concept of
self-determination.

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The United States had misgivings about resuscitating the
self-determination idea into binding treaty form.

However, the idea found its way into Articles 1 and 55 of the United
Nations Charter ("the Charter").

Article I states that the purpose of the United Nations includes the
development of "friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples",

Article 55 discusses "conditions of stability and well-being which are

necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect
for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples".

It can be said that real obligations were created in the Charter.

However, the drafters of the Charter did not define self -determination
or identify who the "peoples" were. Because of that, it had been
submitted that those two articles were so vague as to provide every
person with the right of self-determination.

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 Right to
self-determination

The 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to

Colonial Countries and Peoples of the UN General Assembly

states that all peoples have a right to

self-determination and laid the legal foundation

for the decolonization policy of the UN.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights &

International Covenant on Economic, Social and CulturalRights,

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 Articles 1 provides:

● All peoples have the right of self-determination. By

virtue of that right they freely determine their political status

and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural

development.

● All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their

natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any

obligations arising out of international economic

co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual

benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be

deprived of its own means of subsistence.

● The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those
having responsibility for the administration of
Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall

promote the realization of the right of

self-determination, and shall respect that right, in

conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the

United Nations.

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Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning

Friendly Relations and cooperation among States in Accordance

with the Charter of the United Nations.

Principle 5 : confirms the right to self-determination, which entails

the right of all peoples ‘freely to determine, without external
interference, their political status and to pursue their economic,
social and cultural development’.

Friendly Relations reiterates that “all peoples” have the right to

self-determination and identifies two purposes which will be achieved
by its realization:

1) promoting friendly relations and co-operation among

States.

and

2) bringing a speedy end to colonialism. No definition of

peoples is offered, and neither of the purposes suggests that

one of the goals of self-determination is to provide every

ethnically distinct people with a state.

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What is Right to Self-Determination?

The exact contents of the right to self-determination remain a

matter of dispute:

a. Who is entitled, example what constitutes a people -

and can many other groups, such as indigenous groups or

ethnic, linguistic, religious, or other minorities also rely

on it?

b. Is the right, due to its historical origins, solely

applicable in situations of decolonization and of military

occupation?

c. What exactly does self-determination comprise:

minority rights, autonomy or, as a matter of last resort, a

right to secession if the incumbent state does not honour

its obligations?

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Still to date, the matter of right to self-determination, and who is
entitled to it, and what it consists of, controversial.

However, the right to self-determination, though has no

working definition, could be, in general, is understood by the

following words:

Right to self-determination comprises the right giving to

peoples the freedom to choose in determining their own

destiny, and constitutes a genuine human right.

As seen by Ian Brownlie, it would be ‘the right to cohesive

national groups to choose for themselves a form of political
organization and their relation to other groups’.

Categories of Self-Determination.

There are two sub-categories under right to self-determination;

i. External Self -Determination

ii. Internal Self -Determination

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 External Self-Determination.

In the decolonization era, the option for right to

self-determination was straightforward. General Assembly

resolution 1541 (XV) lists out that these rights are available to

people that have been colonized by the Imperial Powers.

They are, namely:

(i) the creation of an independent state;

(ii) free association with an existing state; or

(iii) integration with a pre-existing state.

Note that these rights, particularly, the right to determine and

form a new state, was only available to colonies. [Western
Sahara Advisory Opinion, ICJ].

The right of minorities, and indigenous people to secede and form

a separate state so that they might enjoy their self-determination
externally has always been a controversial issue. No consensus
has been reached.

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It has been submitted that minorities only has the

right enumerated in article 27 of the ICCPR,

which is a combination of non-discrimination, equality, and the
right to special measures that seek to give equal opportunities
to minorities in the civil, political, economic, social, and
cultural realms.

Is remedial right to self-determination an accepted right

of the minorities who were subjected to mass and gross

human rights violations?

It has been argued that ‘persistent minorities’ who have been

politically alienated, oppressed and subjected to mass human
rights violations have the right of external
self-determination as a remedy, because they cannot
expect to live under the rule of the oppressors and it would
prevent further mass human rights violations.

However, this too is controversial under international law.

Instances where this argument was successful:

Disintegration of Yugoslavia: Independence of Kosovo.

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Where it has been non-successful: Kurdistan, Tibet,

Urghars in China. It seems the answer to the question depends

on the stance the international community takes with regards to

the particular claim in question.

Where minorities are based on contiguous territories, the notion

of ‘internal’ self-determination may also be entertained. For

example, where minorities are living in a particular area

of territory inside a state, a claim for internal

self-determination is recognized as a valid right.

Internal Self -Determination.

The purpose of development of this principle is to give minorities

the right to self-determination whilst maintaining the territorial

integrity of the existing state. Accordingly it tries to strike a balance

between self-governance right of the minorities and the concept of

state sovereignty and territorial integrity. The central question is

how to maintain the existing state structure all the while providing

the minorities of their right to govern themselves.

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Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 SCR 217
Context: Advisory opinion regarding the possible existence of a
right of Quebec to secede unilaterally from Canada.

Canada used to be a colony of England. But one of its provinces,

Quebec, used to be under the governorship of France. Thus when
Canada got the dominion status, all of its provinces except for
Quebec consisted predominantly of English speaking population.
Quebec consists of French speaking population. The province of
Quebec had been given autonomy. However, it held a referendum
in order to break away from Canada and form a separate state.
The major argument in favour of the referendum was that Quebec
had the right to self-determination and thereby the right to form a
new state. The referendum ultimately failed because the majority
of the Quebec population decided to stay with Canada. The
legitimacy and legality of the right to secede under international
law came to determination before the Supreme Court.

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Held: The international law right to self-determination

only generates, at best, a right to external

self-determination in situations of former [1]colonies;

[2]where a people is oppressed, as for example under

foreign military occupation; or [3]where a definable group

is denied meaningful access to government to pursue

their political, economic, social and cultural

development.

In all three situations, the people in question are entitled to a right

to external self-determination because they have been denied
the ability to exert internally their right to self-determination.
Such exceptional circumstances are manifestly inapplicable to
Quebec under existing conditions. Because, Quebec has been
given the right to internal self-determination in the form of
autonomy.

Summary: Quebec has the right to internal self-determination,

that is to say, the right to form an autonomous regional
government inside Canada. However, they did not have the right

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to external self-determination, namely, right to form a separate
state.

Minority ethnic communities have the right to internal

self-determination. In other words, they have the right to

autonomy.

Advantages of self-determination.

The Finnish government defined autonomy in the following way: to

protect the Aland Islands' opportunity to organize their existence as freely
as possible in an area that does not form a state (the original tools did not

use the term autonomy, but self-government .)

The ability of a region or community to organise its affairs without

interference from the central government or neighbouring

regions or communities.

Present era application of self-determination.

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A number of constitutions now recognise an entitlement to
self-determination. Such as ; Spain, The Philippines in relation to its
indiginious peoples and the

★ Forms of Autonomy.

● At the national level, only a few constitutions provide for

entitlement to autonomy.

● When there is no Constitutional entitlement to

autonomy, autonomy arrangements are generally negotiated ad
hoc, to suit particular objectives and circumstances,
including the necessity to amend the Constitution.

There are different forms of autonomy.

The nationalities regional autonomy,

Special Administrative Region are two distinct
systems occurring in the same country.

1. Autonomy usually takes territorial forms.

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 2. But some sort of autonomy can also be exercised through cultural

councils or other limited forms of self-government.

such as the regimes of various forms of minority rights, special

systems of representation, affirmative action, recognition of

culture, languages, proportionality principle, freedom of religion

and so on.

❖ Belgium is an interesting example of two forms of autonomy. In one

hand which is connected to the territorial form and in the other

hand which is connected with the culture.

❖ Various countries are enjoying autonomy in the present era.

❏ Macau was autonomous for centuries under
Portuguese rule.
❏ Quebec has enjoyed autonomy in Canada since the

19th century.
❏ Finland, was an autonomous Grand Duchy of the
Russian Empire between 1809 and
1917, with its own constitution and legal order.

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 Emphasis in Article 2 of the 1906 constitution of

Russia.

★ Origins of autonomy

1) With the development of identity politics based on race,

caste, gender, religion, language or race, they

demand to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from
traditional broad-based party politics.

2) Which is widely challenged around the world.

3) Identity politics separates the group as two parts. Minority

groups & Majority groups.

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4) It often argues that the state is ruled by a majority community.
Then most states became exclusionary, on the basis which
alienated minorities groups based on caste, religion or
ethnicity ; minorities groups became no
entitlement to franchise, public office or
even occupations.

5) After the Westphalian settlement ; political and legal concepts

developed under the sovereignty of the State.

➢ Westphalian settlement
The peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace
treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of

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 Osnabruck and Munster. They ended the thirty years war and
brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a
calamitous period of European history.

6) Gradually the concept of Citizenship, human rights and

democracy was considered by the state and citizenship rights
were granted to the excluded communities.

7) This citizenship rights did not imply the political

inclusion of these communities, which rights used the

assimilation means force to lose minorities identity and to

eventually become similar to the majority in a society.

8) In Europe from the 18th century onwards the political map was
redrawn. Means based on Cultural, particularly Linguicide,

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 Affiliation, new states were created.

9) Consequently several nations - states were created. Means ;

Unity between a cultural community and the boundaries of the
State became the major principle of the reorganization of states.

10) This approach was justified on the grounds of the preservation

of both Culture and democracy.

11) In Asia the state accommodated considerable diversities of

people ; accepted different religions, languages and
Customary practices within the territory border.

12) All these changed with colonialism.

Which brought the inter-mixing of communities.

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13) As previously in Europe, the state has attempted to inculcate
'Nationalism' through assimilating minorities to the
religion,language and mores of the majority.

14) In order to form a Liberal state some key principles and

components are essential . Such as ;Equality, Identity politics,
Uniformity of Law and legal institutions.

15) To ensure those principles of modern democracy

Participation of small ethnic groups,

special types of representation in the legislature,

executive and other public agencies, affirmative action

and promotion of minority cultures are essential.

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★ Key role of autonomy

Key role of autonomy.

★ In the present era it would be difficult to study most countries'
constitutional and political systems without addressing
autonomy.

★ Autonomy forms apply in large states. Such as ; China,

India, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada.

Medium sized state. Such as ; Finland, Tanzania,

Australia and small states. Such as ; Papua New

Guinea whose constitutional and political system are hard to

understand without autonomy.

★ Recognizes both differences and

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 similarities between various ethnic groups.

When the majority thinks the state is only for them, they create a
narrowed view of the state called ‘ethnocracy’. Thereby alienating
minorities by implying that they are not an integral part of the
state.

Accommodations on the other hand, by recognizing

that various communities are part of the state and that

their concerns must also be addressed, creates a liberal

view of the state that is far more inclined towards ‘modern

democracies’ that puts much emphasis on human rights above

all.

Modern democracy consists of majority rule and also

minority rights.

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 ★ State becomes a manager of conflict.
In ‘ethnocracies’, conception of state is the cause of
conflict, whereas in accommodations, the governance of the state
is directed towards solving those conflicts. Here, then, the state
becomes the manager of conflicts.

An ethnocracy is a type of political structure in

which the state apparatus is controlled by a dominant
ethnic group (or groups) to further its interests,
power and resources.

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 ★ In the present era autonomy is one of the
solutions to protect minority groups. Further
it protects Human Rights of Minorities.

While there is no general right to autonomy under domestic or

international law, there is an increasing recognition internationally
and regionally that in some circumstances to protect minority
human rights,
For an example ; Article 27 of the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights, which recognises that a measure of

autonomy and group rights may be necessary for the protection of

cultural rights of minorities.

★ This broader approach is reflected in the UN Declaration on

the Rights of Minorities adopted by the General

Assembly in 1992, which places positive obligations on the

state to protect the identity of minorities and encourage

‘conditions for the promotion of that identity’.

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 ★ Autonomy gives it contribution to form a
limited self -government. Means ; Gives
minorities political freedom/ Internal
self -determination

Through power sharing, the minorities are given power to

govern themselves regionally or provincially. Governance,

then, becomes not one way directive. Example ;From central to
regions, but rather, it becomes a two-way deal,
the exchange and co-ordination between central
government and regional governments.

★ Autonomy has come to be seen as a mid-way solution

between a unitary state and Secession.

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★ Sometimes the suspension of a civil war is secured by the offer to
negotiate autonomy, as in Srilanka, Sudan and many other

places.

★ Autonomy has also placed a role in the settlement of disputes

between states.

For an Example ;

1. After World War I the dispute between Germany and Poland

over the ownership of the city of Danzig was settled by
giving the city autonomous status.

2. There is a conflict between Germany and Lithuania over

Memel solved by autonomy status.

★ Autonomy arrangements Contribute to Constitutionalism, Rule of

law & Role of independent institutions.

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 Autonomy became important during the

period of decolonization following World

War I and particularly World War II.

It was used principally for two purposes.

1. Accommodate communities within former colonies which

because of their distinct ethnicity wanted to secede on

independence. Such as ; Aland in Finland, the Buganda in

Uganda, the Maasai and other minority communities in
Kenya, Bougainvillea in Papua New Guinea, Banabans in
Kiribati.
2. Re-organise the relationship between the colonial

authorities and the Colonies, short of independence. Such as ;

Cook Islands and Niue in relation to New Zealand, Puerto

Rico and American Micronesia in relation to the United

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 States, New Caledonia in relation to France and various
British colonies in the Caribbean.

Decolonization.

The action or process of a state withdrawing from a former

colony, leaving it independent.

Colonial authorities.

The system or policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain

its authority over other people or territories .

★ Downsides of autonomy

★ Furthering polarization

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Accommodation strategies might backfire when different ethnicities with
whom power is shared opt to isolate themselves over the passage of
time. When such isolation occurs, rather than promoting a two

channel co-operation as expected in accommodation, it further

increases the distance between majorities and minorities,

resulting in each tending to their own affairs. Inevitably, it also

fails in creating one country identity.

Since cooperation is an indispensable requirement of accommodation, a

lack of which impedes its full effectiveness and working of the
government.

★ Call to secession (breaking away from a

country)

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In extreme cases, where there is no compromise between various

ethnicities, and where the relationship between central

government by the majority and regional government by the minority
breaks, the regional minorities may opt separation as a viable and
favorable solution.

Such separatist movements might be peaceful, or

violent depending on the level of polarization.

➢ Example ;

I. Catalonian declaration of Independence.

ii. Scottish Referendum in 2014, even after greater

levels of power concession were made to Scottish
Parliament through the Scotland Act of 1998.

iii. Disintegration of Socialist Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia.

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iv. Secession of Montenegro from Republic of Serbia
and Montenegro.

Catalonian declaration of
Independence.

❖ The Catalan declaration of independence was a resolution that

was passed by the Parliament of Catalonia on 27

October 2017, which declared the independence of Catalonia
from Spain and the founding of an independent Catalan Republic.

❖ This document was voted on on 27 October to make a session in

Catalonia from Spain. 70 legislators voted in favour,10

voted against, others refused to participate in such processes.

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 ❖ It was read publicly, but it was not voted on the catalian parliament

or published by the Catalan government's official journal.

❖ The decision was made during a secret vote in Barcelona.

❖ Later the Spanish Constitutional Court declares this action is against
section 155 constitution.
❖ The declaration did not receive recognition from the

international community as to the rule emphasised in

the case of Re secession of quebec.

Scottish
referendum

Scotland has voted to stay in the United Kingdom after

voters decisively rejected independence.

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Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond called for unity and

urged the unionist parties to deliver on more powers.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he was delighted the UK

would remain together and that commitments on extra

powers would be honoured "in full".

Mr Cameron said the three main unionist parties at

Westminster would now follow through with their pledge of

more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

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