Concept in Definition ABC

The term separatism indicates aspiration politics of a group to achieve its autonomy or independence with respect to a political entity, normally a nation.

The idea of ​​separatism implies, in turn, a series of aspects:

1) the group of individuals who intend to separate and achieve a certain autonomy or full independence may be a minority or a majority,

2) the existence of the separatists presupposes that other groups of the same territory they do not defend the same ideals and, consequently, they are in favor of non-separation,

3) this ideology it is not necessarily associated with a specific political approach and, in fact, there are right and left separatisms.

Factors influencing separatist movements

Normally there is no single factor that determines the desire for the creation of a new state, but there are several factors. factors That intervene. Thus, there are religious aspects, as is the case in Northern Ireland, where a Catholic and separatist minority is opposes the Protestant and Unionist majority (Unionism defends maintaining the union between Northern Ireland and Greater Brittany). Most separatist movements are based on the combination of political, cultural, historical and economic factors, as in the case of Basque, Catalan, Scottish or Quebecois separatism.

The idea of National identity and separatist movements

The vast majority of all the groups in favor of separatism maintain that their aspiration is based on the identity from his town. In other words, they consider that their culture, their religion and their history as a collective make them a different people and, therefore, this difference must be reflected in a form of government independent and in a new nation-state.

Different examples of separatism

Although national identity is the element that unites separatist movements, each of them has its own idiosyncrasies. In the case of Flanders, the Flemish region of Belgium, there is a culture clash between Flemings and Walloons. In the Veneto region of Italy, secessionism or separatism has an economic foundation and a historical component, since this territory was part of the independent Republic of Venice.

Some separatist movements claim a nation that was independent in its day, just as happens in Tibet, a territory that was militarily occupied in 1959 and since then has been under the administration China. There are secessionist aspirations in which several countries intervene (a part of the Kurdish people demands a own state, Kurdistan, a nation that would be made up of territories of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria).

Photos: iStock - erlucho / Kivilcim Pinar