Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group, in which occurs in many society’s today and often results in issues and conflicts, in which are difficult to overcome. The reasons for separatism are often not simple and may not even benefit the separatists in the long term.
The causes for separatism conflicts usually involves a nationalistic reason, when one community no longer wants to be controlled and governed by a different body but instead wants to govern itself. An example of this is the Basque area as well as Catalonia. As they had their own history and culture, the autonomy was split from Spain and they are now able to decide their own affairs. Catalonia has now been able to maintain their Catalan language which has been taught in all schools in the region since 1983 and has become the official language in education. This shows that separatism can be caused by differences in social aspects and that communities like to be recognised as their own state.
The idea of separatism in many cases can also arise when there is a perception that exploitation of local resources by national government produces little economic gain for the region. This was the case in Scotland recently and was one of the main arguments for Scotland leaving the UK. Before its union with England, Scotland was a separate kingdom, with its own national church, separate education and legal systems and its own language called Gaelic which is spoken in parts of the country. One of the main problems the Scottish National Party felt was that the exploitation of the North Sea oil and gas had done little to develop the economy of Scotland. The drive for independence was partly satisfied by the establishment in 1999 of a parliament with limited tax-raising powers. In 2007, the Scottish National Party became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament and was gaining support as many of the Scottish citizens wanted their country to have its own national identity and ownership of the North Sea oil. Despite the chance to be recognised as their own country, the financial issues of leaving to UK were very significant resulting in Scotland remaining in the UK due to the outcome of the referendum. The results showed however a very large percentage voting for Scotland to leave the UK, in which shows many are for separatism primarily to be recognised as their own country and the exploit local resources.
Another cause of separatist conflicts is differences in political views within countries such as Ukraine. Ukraine is largely divided into two groups, one side pro-European and the other wanting to join with Russia. The actual Ukrainians want to stay separated from Russia, unlike the large populations of Russians living in East Ukraine. This is due to Stalin’s actions in World War 2 resulting in many populations being moved around to different countries. The differences in the two societies are causing much conflict in Ukraine. One of the main interlinking reasons of many Ukrainians trying to remain separate from Russia is also the overall rise in Nationalism around the globe. Due to many other countries ability to remain separate from much larger nations, it has resulted in the concept to pass over to other countries such as Ukraine. This is the destabilization from one separatist movement giving rise to others.
The consequences of separatist conflicts largely vary depending on the situation and can result in serious implications such as political, economic and social. Many separatist conflicts have resulted in violent outbreaks and political problems leading to impacts on societies.
Economic consequences of separatism are some of the most important in terms of the financial welfare of the country itself. The concept of the separating of countries can result in the loss of vast sums of money, damaging the economy. The Scotland separation concept would have had large financial impacts on the UK as about 90% of Britain’s oil and gas, providing up to €10-15 billion annually in tax revenues. On Scotland’s half it would be able to cover their budget deficit, which resulted in Scotland’s nationalists seizing this opportunity. However Scotland has minimal exports other than oil which reached peak oil in 1999. This means if Scotland became independent, problems would start to arise in the future once the North Sea oil runs out, in which there only 40% of the original supply is left. This combined with rising unemployment rates in Scotland would have had resulted in negative consequences for both the UK and Scotland if they decided to separate after the referendum.
Separatist conflicts often result in violence and terrorist attacks in order for a side to emphasise their political views. Separatism such as the Basques resulted in bombing, ambushes and assassinations from the separatist group ETA, who used violence as one of their main campaigns for independence. ETA so far have killed over 800 people since the group was established, including politicians and business-men. This example shows separatists in certain circumstances are willing to inflict significant consequences on society in order to get their point across the politicians and the general public. In 2010 ETA declared a ceasefire and in 2011 they announced that they had decided to end violent activity. However ETA has previously been known for disregarding ceasefires, resulting in the Spanish government attempts to disband of the group completely causing on going tension.
Separatist issues have also resulted in military action, drawing the attention of many countries around the world due to the NATO policy as well as the UN trying to maintain global peace. The annexation of Crimea is an example of this issue. Due to increased activity of separatist movement, Putin decided to march Russian troops into Crimea in which he explained was because he intended to “maintain order”. This resulted in the attempt of countries to intervene as well as the UN because annexation breaks many of the international laws. If annexation was allowed, many smaller countries would get taken over.
To conclude, separatism and its conflicts is largely caused due to Nationalism in which is largely spreading around the globe due to separatist movement. Other internal implications may also result in reasons for countries or states to separate from unions that they are in such as Scotland and its oil. Consequences can also be drastic resulting in a large number of deaths such as the Basques separatist movement. However many separatist movements result in many implications affecting more than one factor, causing a change in society in order to solve separatist problems.