Matt Qvortrup (editor) - Nationalism, Referendums and Democracy: Voting on Ethnic Issues and Independence

This revised and expanded edition analyses the factors conducive to holding independence and secession referendums, to winning these votes and to their status in domestic and international law. Taking into account the votes in Catalonia and Scotland, the book shows that votes on secession and independence are not a passing phenomenon but an important part of international politics.

The book includes an overview of the history of referendums on independence and a summary of the legal issues involved in doing so, as well as a chapter on referendums in unrecognised states and case-study chapters exploring referendums in Kosovo, Cyprus, Kurdistan and Somaliland amongst others. By considering the ethical arguments for secession and recognition, the legal norms governing the process, and the positive and political science theory of when would-be states succeed in becoming recognised by the international community, it shows the role of referendums in the process of establishing new states, and, as a corollary, their role (if any) in winning international recognition for these states.

This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of political science, law and even philosophy.

Matt Qvortrup, DPhil (Oxon), is professor of political science at Coventry University, UK.

Democratization Studies combines theoretical and comparative studies with detailed analyses of issues central to the democratic progress and its performance all over the world.

The books in this series aim to encourage debate on the many aspects of democratization that are of interest to policy-makers, administrators and journalists, aid and development personnel, as well as to all those involved in education.

Democracy Assistance Bypassing Governments in Recipient Countries

Supporting the Next Generation

Paulina Pospieszna

Transatlantic Democracy Assistance

Promoting Different Models of Democracy

Jan Hornat

Innovations, Reinvented Politics and Representative Democracy

Edited by Agns Alexandre-Collier, Alexandra Goujon and Guillaume Gourgues

Nationalism, Referendums and Democracy

Voting on Ethnic Issues and Independence 2nd edition

Edited by Matt Qvortrup

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Democratization-Studies/book-series/DS

Second Edition

Edited by Matt Qvortrup

Second edition published 2020

by Routledge

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2020 selection and editorial matter, Matt Qvortrup; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of the Matt Qvortrup to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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First edition published by Routledge 2013

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Qvortrup, Matt, editor.

Title: Nationalism, referendums and democracy : voting on ethnic issues and independence / edited by Matt Qvortrup.

Description: 2nd edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Democratization studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019053056 | ISBN 9780367228828 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367228835 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429277382 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Nationalism. | Nationalism--Case studies. | Self determination, National. | Self determination, National--Case studies. | Referendum. | Referendum--Case studies. | Secession. | Secession--Case studies.

Classification: LCC JC311 .N3265 2020 | DDC 328.2/3--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053056

ISBN: 978-0-367-22882-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-22883-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-27738-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Datamatics Limited

This book is dedicated to the memory of Jean Laponce.
He was a great man and a good man!

PART I
The history of referendums

Matt Qvortrup

Matt Qvortrup

PART II
A theory of self-determination

Peter Radan

Mikulas Fabry

PART III
Case studies

Dahlia Scheindlin

Erol Kaymak

Aleksandar Pavkovi

Figure

Tables

Mikulas Fabry, is assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.

Erol Kaymak, is a professor at the Department of International Relations at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus.

Aleksandar Pavkovi is an associate professor in the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University, Australia.

Matt Qvortrup, DPhil (Oxon), is professor of political science at Coventry University, UK. His books include A Comparative Study of Referendums (2005), Government by Referendum (2018) and The Referendum and Other Essays on Constitutional Politics (2019). He is also an occasional film critic for Philosophy Now and presenter of the BBC programme Analysis.

Peter Radan, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a professor of law at Macquarie University, Australia.

Dahlia Scheindlin, is a policy fellow at Mitvim Institute: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, researching comparative conflict dynamics. She is also an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University, Israel.

This book is an updated and slightly changed version of the book Nationalism, Referendums and Democracy (Qvortrup 2014), which, in turn, grew out of a special issue of the journal Nationalism and Ethnic Politics (Vol. 18, No. 1, March 2012).

A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridges of independence referendums since then (just think of the votes in Scotland in 2014). Equally, there has been renewed debate about issues pertaining to independence and recognition. These developments made a new edition necessary. Hence, in the present volume, some of the original chapters have merely been substantially updated. This is true for the chapters by Matt Qvortrup, Peter Radan, Dahlia Scheindlin and Erol Kaymak. However, the sad death of our dear colleague Jean Laponce meant that we needed another chapter. Moreover, other contributors to the previous volume elected not to take part of the present volume.