The present chapter aims to investigate how political practice, inspired by the idea of self-determination (with implications in terms of territorial re-shaping), has evolved in Europe since 1989. Historically, the events that occurred when the socialist order in Eastern and Central Europe vanished have represented a sort of third wave in the process of modeling states and geopolitics under the principle of self-determination, since the first wave was generated by the collapse of the multicultural dynastic empires in Europe at the end of WW1 and the second one by the dismemberment of the Western colonial empires after WW2. However, the European dynamics of self-determination that materialized after 1989 followed a specific pathway, previously never tested. In fact, they included either acts of secession or unification/integration under a broader umbrella. Under certain circumstances, they were mutually related, sometimes violently and sometimes peacefully. I am referring here to the processes that led to the bloody Yugoslav fragmentation, the semi-violent dismemberment of the USSR, the peaceful partition of Czechoslovakia, as well as German unification and the inclusiveness generated by the EU’s widening and deepening. All these processes were different in nature and content. They were following alternative visions of the Nation and the State, but all of them had to cope with the implications stemming from claims to self-determination and democracy, encompassing nationalist projects for new independent States and/or new borders, despite the risk of instability or even war in Europe. The present paper will explore in particular the dynamics that have characterized two tumultuous decades at the turn of the millennium in this regard, taking into consideration the unification of Germany and the European Confederation; the Yugoslav collapse; the Balladur Initiative and EU enlargement; the Schengen treaty; and the social and cultural implications of the economic crisis which started in 2007.
Re-assessing Self-Determination. EU integration and Nation-State Independence Facing the Challenges of Post-Socialist Europe / Bianchini S.. - STAMPA. - (2013), pp. 251-271.
Re-assessing Self-Determination. EU integration and Nation-State Independence Facing the Challenges of Post-Socialist Europe
BIANCHINI, STEFANO
2013
Abstract
The present chapter aims to investigate how political practice, inspired by the idea of self-determination (with implications in terms of territorial re-shaping), has evolved in Europe since 1989. Historically, the events that occurred when the socialist order in Eastern and Central Europe vanished have represented a sort of third wave in the process of modeling states and geopolitics under the principle of self-determination, since the first wave was generated by the collapse of the multicultural dynastic empires in Europe at the end of WW1 and the second one by the dismemberment of the Western colonial empires after WW2. However, the European dynamics of self-determination that materialized after 1989 followed a specific pathway, previously never tested. In fact, they included either acts of secession or unification/integration under a broader umbrella. Under certain circumstances, they were mutually related, sometimes violently and sometimes peacefully. I am referring here to the processes that led to the bloody Yugoslav fragmentation, the semi-violent dismemberment of the USSR, the peaceful partition of Czechoslovakia, as well as German unification and the inclusiveness generated by the EU’s widening and deepening. All these processes were different in nature and content. They were following alternative visions of the Nation and the State, but all of them had to cope with the implications stemming from claims to self-determination and democracy, encompassing nationalist projects for new independent States and/or new borders, despite the risk of instability or even war in Europe. The present paper will explore in particular the dynamics that have characterized two tumultuous decades at the turn of the millennium in this regard, taking into consideration the unification of Germany and the European Confederation; the Yugoslav collapse; the Balladur Initiative and EU enlargement; the Schengen treaty; and the social and cultural implications of the economic crisis which started in 2007.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
