1. Industrial Relationships
It’s Our Money and We Want it Now: Secession in Resource Rich Countries and the Role of the International Community Kiernan Somers ‘17
Primary Variables
Government Stability: Defined as the state of stability experienced by a country as a result of beneficial government activities.
Economic Potential: Defined as the abiltiy for the economy (in terms of GDP) to grow substantially as a direct result of the exploitation of resources.
Regional Conflict: Defined as conflict instigated either by a secessionist party or suppressive government, that broke out and cost lives in the afflicted region. Can be further extended to encompass human rights violations.
Industrial Relationships: Defined as the presence of large western oil companies that brokered lucrative contracts with home governments. These companies must have exclusive resource rights in the region.
Government Stability
UN Established and Supported Government
South Sudan
East Timor
Ex-Colonial and Puppet Governments
Katanga
Biafra
Aceh
Cabinda
Economic Potential
High Economic Potential
Regional Conflict
Genocide and Human Rights Violations
Civil War
Industrial Relationships
Weak Ties to Western Industry
Strong Ties to Western Industry
Successful Secession
Abstract
Tensions between the right to self-determination and existing states have caused many conflicts around the globe. Resource rich regions such as Katanga, Biafra, South Sudan, East Timor, Cabinda, and Aceh all had to go through the international community to gain statehood and were either granted or declined the right to self-determination. Secessionist movements frequently challenge existing state borderlines; however, few reach the ultimate goal of statehood. Secession attempts in resource rich regions, whether carried out by unorganized rebels, or a fully functioning autonomous government, are dependent on the international community for success. Through textual analyses of academic journals, monographs, and intergovernmental organization reports, this paper seeks to demonstrate the conditions under which the international community grants diplomatic recognition to secessionist movements. Factoring in government stability, economic viability, the past history of a region, and industrial relationships, the international community plays a large role in determining the path to statehood before granting statehood and diplomatic recognition. Through research conducted it was discovered that the stability of a regional government, including the support for the west; the presence of resources to provide for a working economy; the presence of resources to provide for a working economy; the presence of conflict causing human rights violations and or genocide; and the strength of industrial relationships between extractive companies and home governments are the most important factors considered by the international community.
East Timor: Offshore of East Timor, located in the seabed of the Timor Gap are some of the largest oil and natural gas reserves on the planet; however, these resources have been disputed and stolen from the East Timorese people for years. After the conquest of East Timor by Indonesia, the Indonesian government negotiated a sea-boundary deal with neighboring Australia and consequently stole the massive rents from the oil and natural gas drilling in the Timor Gap
Biafra: Shortly after gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, the oil rich region of Biafra, seceded from Nigeria in 1967 due to economic, cultural, and ethnic differences and tensions. The Nigerian Government heavily relied on the oil revenues generated by Biafran wells.
Katanga: In 1960, under the guidance of Moise Tshombe, Katanga seceded from the Congo. At the time, Katanga was one of the most well-developed and richest regions in the Congo due to the plethora of natural resources: copper, gold, uranium, and cobalt.
Aim: What are the conditions in which the international community allows a secessionist movement to succeed.
South Sudan: The large oil fields located just over the border in South Sudan have further added to the regional conflicts in the Sudan. The region’s proven oil reserves (estimated to total about 6.6 billion barrels) are located in the South and along the North-South border. As a result, oil-driven territorial disputes are commonplace.
Aceh: Aceh is a small, resource rich province of Indonesia that has been engaged in a 30-year civil war with the Federal Government over the massive reserves of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil. These fields generate two billion dollars in annual revenue; however, the poverty rate in the province is 35%, with child malnutrition estimated at similar levels
Cabinda: The small oil-rich province of Cabinda supplies over sixty percent of the oil revenues that account for forty-two percent of Angola's gross national product and ninety percent of the state budget. For many years Cabinda received none of the profits, and its citizens found themselves struggling to feed their families and survive.
Conclusion
It is seen through the analysis of the individual case studies that the most important factors used by the international community in allowing secessionist movements are: the stability of a regional government, including the support for the west; the presence of resources to provide for a working economy; the presence of conflict causing human rights violations and or genocide; and the strength of industrial relationships between extractive companies and home governments. Although the period of decolonization that followed World War II – fraught with conflict and tensions all over the globe as secessionist movements increased in number as people attempted to exercise their right to self-determination – has come to an end, the future role of the international community will not change.