Earned Sovereignty Revisited: Creating a Strategic Framework for Managing Self-Determination Based Conflicts

Abstract

There are over seventy active self-determination movements around the globe, and this trend seems far from dissipating. Many of these self-determination movements generate sovereignty-based conflicts characterized by extreme violence on the part of both the parent state and the sub-state entity, and by the potential for regional and international instability. In order to successfully resolve the persistent and growing number of violent and non-violent sovereignty-based conflicts, this article calls for the international community to develop a strategic framework to guide resolution of these conflicts. Currently, no comprehensive strategic framework for managing self-determination exists. The status quo promotes a nebulous approach to managing self-determination movements, ultimately fostering an atmosphere of apprehension, instability and uncertainty at the mere mention of potential independence