Independence
Independence is a condition of a
Definition of independence
Whether the attainment of independence is different from
Distinction between independence and autonomy
Right to independence
During the 20th century wave of decolonization colonies gained rights to independence through documents such as the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, but this right remained mostly applicable only to unfree territorial entities, such as colonies.[6] How much these rights apply to all people has been a crucial point of discussion. The rights to nationality and self-determination allow clarification. The right of self-determination allows self-governance, as for example in the case of indigenous peoples, but is not a right of secession, except in extreme cases of oppression as a remedy from the oppression.[7] Therefore, the right to secession is generally determined by the legislation of sovereign states and independence by the capacity to be a state.
Declarations of independence
Sometimes, a state wishing to achieve independence from a dominating power will issue a
Historical overview
Historically, there have been four major periods of declaring independence:
- from the 1770s, beginning with the American Revolutionary War through the 1830s, when the last royalist bastions fell at the close of the Spanish American wars of independence;
- the immediate aftermath of the empires;
- 1945 to c. 1979, when seventy newly independent states emerged from the European colonial empires like India, Algeria etc. and the collapse of the Nazi German Reich and the Empire of Japan;[8]
- and the early 1990s, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
Continents
Continent | No. | Most Recent Country to Gain Independence | |
---|---|---|---|
Africa
|
54 | South Sudan (2011) | |
Americas
|
35 | Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983)[a] | |
Asia
|
44 | East Timor (2002) | |
Europe
|
50[b] | Montenegro (2006) | |
Oceania
|
14 | Palau (1994)[c] | |
N/A | de facto condominium international |
See also
- Liberty
- Autarky
- Autonomy
- Domestic sourcing
- Economic nationalism
- Energy independence
- Independence constitution
- Independence referendum
- List of national independence days
- List of sovereign states by date of formation
- Lists of active separatist movements
- Real freedom
- Secession
- Self Determination
- Self-sufficiency
- Special Committee on Decolonization
- Unilateral declaration of independence
- United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
- War of Independence
Notes
- ^ Independence from the United Kingdom.
- ^ a b Part of Transcaucasian Region, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Physiographically, Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are mostly in Asia with small portions north of the Caucasus Mountains divide in Europe.
- ^ An independent state in free association with the United States.
References
- ISBN 0-8093-9112-0.
- ISBN 0-674-94585-9.
- ^ "Kosovo MPs proclaim independence". BBC News. February 17, 2008.
- ^ "The world's newest state". The Economist. February 21, 2008.
- ^ "International recognitions of the Republic of Kosovo". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ "Legal Aspects of Self-Determination". The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination. February 11, 1918. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- S2CID 232264306.
- ^ David Armitage, The Declaration of Independence in World Context, Organization of American Historians, Magazine of History, Volume 18, Issue 3, Pp. 61–66 (2004)
Further reading
- Wikidata Q19094713
- Wikidata Q100272896