Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

The Who, Where, and When of Secession

| Sep. 29, 2017

This week, Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence for the country’s Kurdistan Region. With some 30 million Kurds divided among four states (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran), nationalists argue that they deserve the world’s recognition. In Spain, some 7.5 million Catalans have raised the same question. Donald Trump and President Ronald Reagan meet at a 1985 White House reception Déjà Voodoo

Does it matter that polls show Catalans, unlike Kurds, to be closely divided on the issue? Does it matter that the states bordering Iraqi Kurdistan might use force to resist secession?

National self-determination, the principle that US President Woodrow Wilson put on the international agenda in 1918, is generally defined as the right of a people to form its own state. But who is the “self” that makes this determination?

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Nye, Joseph S.“The Who, Where, and When of Secession.” Project Syndicate, September 29, 2017.

The Author

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Joseph S. Nye

  • Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
  • Member of the Board, Belfer Center
  • Faculty Affiliate, Future of Diplomacy Project
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