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Secessionist minorities and external involvement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Alexis Heraclides
Alexis Heraclides
Affiliation:
Fellow of the International Relations Department at the University of Thrace, Greece, and Alternate Expert of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Minorities.
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Abstract

Instances of external state involvement in seven postwar secessionist movements—those of Katanga, Biafra, the Southern Sudan, Bangladesh, Iraqi Kurdistan, Eritrea, and the Moro region of the Philippines—were analyzed to shed light on the patterns of interaction between the international system and secessionist minorities. Examined and tested were numerous assumptions of conventional wisdom on the subject, as well as a variety of other relevant questions concerning the constraints on, content of, and reasons for involvement. The results were contrary to many of the common assumptions. For example, given the international regime's norm against involvement with groups that threaten territorial integrity, external state support of these groups was more extensive than would be expected; and support was given for diverse reasons, rather than based solely on the prospects for tangible gain. Additional results of this study suggest a series of hypotheses for further examination.

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International Organization , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , Summer 1990, pp. 341 - 378
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Copyright © The IO Foundation 1990

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References

This article is based in part on material from a forthcoming book by the author. I thank Professor Krasner and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions.

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25. For the concept of regime and its theory, see Krasner, Stephen D., “Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables,” in Krasner, Stephen D., ed., International Regimes (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982), pp. 1–5Google Scholar. For its use and adaptation in a context similar to that of the cases analyzed here, see Jackson, Robert H., “Quasi-States, Dual Regimes, and Neoclassical Theory: International Jurisprudence and the Third World,” International Organization 41 (Autumn 1987), pp. 519–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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27. Jackson, Robert H. and Rosberg, Carl G., “Why Africa's Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood,” World Politics 35 (10 1982), p. 20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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29. See Emerson, Rupert, “Self-Determination,” American Journal of International Law 65 (04 1971), pp. 459–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dyke, Vernon Van, “Self-Determination and Minority Rights,” International Studies Quarterly 13 (09 1969), pp. 226–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sureda, A. Rigo, The Evolution of the Right to Self-Determination (Leiden: A. Sijthoff, 1973)Google Scholar; and Crawford, James, The Creation of States in International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979)Google Scholar. For an important critique of this state of affairs, see Buchheit, Lee C., Secession: The Legitimacy of Self-Determination (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1978)Google Scholar.

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31. See, for example, Modelski, “The International Relations of Internal War”; and Little, Intervention. With regard to the seven secessionist movements reported here, it is worth remembering two points: most of the involvement was at a low level, and the seven cases consist of “internationalized” secessionist movements rather than secessionist movements in general.

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33. See footnote 4 (above). See also Stohl, Michael, “The Nexus of Civil and International Conflict,” paper presented at the European Consortium for Political Research, Free University of Brussels, 1979Google Scholar.

34. This question is not examined in detail here, however, since it is difficult to pinpoint involvement of this nature which is “legal.” Although the number of states giving support to an incumbent government may have been small, the amount of aid (quantitatively as well as qualitatively) given to incumbent governments has tended to be much greater than that given to insurgents.

35. Mitchell, , “Civil Strife and the Involvement of External Parties,” p. 172Google Scholar.

36. See “Kogbara to Onyegbula: Secret Mission Report,” 013 Secret, 30 07 1969 (on microfilm at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London)Google Scholar.

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38. See footnotes 21 and 22 (above). Regarding the Tamil case, see also Rupersinghe, Kuman, “Ethnic Conflicts in East Asia: The Case of Sri Lanka and the Indian Peacekeeping Force,” Journal of Peace Research 25 (12 1988), pp. 337–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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40. See footnote 18 (above).

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42. See “Kogbara to Onyegbula”.

43. See footnote 20 (above). See also Howell, John F. and Hamid, M. Beshir, “Sudan and the Outside World, 1964–1968,” African Affairs 68 (10 1969), pp. 132–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

44. Note that the examination of constraints applies to those states that did become involved to a discernible degree (even if only marginally) and includes states that may have later switched or limited their support.

45. The low rank of economic constraints is due, among other things, to the fact that economic constraints are usually difficult to verify in the first place and appear to complement or counteract considerations of “high politics,” rather than to stand alone.

46. See the following classic works: Cartwright, Dorwin and Zander, A., eds., Group Dynamics (New York: Harper & Row, 1953)Google Scholar; Milgram, Stanley, Obedience to Authority (London: Tavistock, 1974)Google Scholar; Tajfel, Henri, “Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination,” Scientific American 223 (05 1970), pp. 96–102CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Latane, Bibb and Darley, John, “Bystander Apathy,” in Hollander, E. P. and Hunt, R. G., eds., Current Perspectives in Social Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 140–52Google Scholar; Haney, Craig and Zimbardo, Philip G., “Social Roles and Role-Playing: Observations from the Stanford Prison Study,” in Hollander, and Hunt, , Current Perspectives in Social Psychology, pp. 406–11Google Scholar; and Janis, Irwing L., Victims of Groupthink (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972)Google Scholar.

47. Duner, , “The Many-Pronged Spear,” pp. 60–61Google Scholar.

48. For a similar categorization, see ibid..

49. See Little, , Intervention, pp. 9–10Google Scholar; and Duner, , “The Many-Pronged Spear,” p. 60Google Scholar.

50. Little, , Intervention, p. 9Google Scholar.

51. See, for example, Suhrke, and Noble, , “Spread or Containment?” pp. 226–30Google Scholar; and Rothschild, Joseph, Ethnopolitics: A Conceptual Approach (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), p. 186Google Scholar.

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53. Howell, and Hamid, , “Sudan and the Outside World, 1964–1968,” p. 302Google Scholar.

54. See footnotes 20 and 22 (above).

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58. President Nyerere went to great lengths to justify recognition on the basis of the merits of the Biafran case, arguing succinctly that unity by military force was a perversion of the idea of unity. See Nyerere, Julius, “Why Tanzania Recognized Biafra,” Africa Report, 06 1968, p. 27Google Scholar.

59. President Houphouët-Boigny, who characterized the Biafran conflict as “a human tragedy,” had close personal links with Biafran leaders and supported their movement. See Félix, Houphouët-Boigny, “Biafra: A Human Problem and Human Tragedy,” African Scholar 1 (11 1968), pp. 10–13Google Scholar. See also Akpan, Ntiyong U., The Struggle for Secession, 1966–1970 (London: Frank Cass, 1971), pp. 177 and 179Google Scholar.

60. This is also noted by Duner, in “The Many-Pronged Spear,” p. 67Google Scholar.

61. The states within reasonable distance by sea were the two Yemens and Saudi Arabia (all close to Eritrea) and Indonesia and Malaysia (both close to the Moro region). Another was the Soviet Union, separated from Pakistan by only a narrow strip of Afghan territory. The four states that were neutral or unfavorable toward the secessionists were Turkey (toward the Iraqi Kurds), the Central African Republic (toward the Southern Sudanese), Burma (toward the Bengalis), and Cameroon (toward the Biafrans).

62. This was also the finding of Suhrke and Noble in “Introduction” and “Spread or Containment?” and of Shiel in “Conclusion”.

63. Note that, in principle at least, the Soviet Union is not against secessionist self-determination. Article 72 of the Soviet Constitution recognizes the right of each union republic to secede.