Dividing Countries to Promote Peace

Prospects for Long-Term Success of Partitions

Bibliographic Data

ID3918633
AuthorsJaroslav Tir (0000-0001-9492-5837, University of Georgia, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume42
Issue5
Pages545-562
Publication date2005-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022343305056228
OpenAlexW1984116421
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited55

This article examines the prospects for long-term success of an internally motivated division of a country's homeland territory - a process known as partition or secession - into rump and secessionist states. The question investigated is why, in the years after the partition, some partitioned countries are able to avoid serious domestic-level violent conflict - operationalized as armed conflict and civil war onset - while others are not. The core logic of the article argues that partition-related factors affect the extent of support for extremist (i.e. conflictual) versus moderate (i.e. accommodative) policies, which in turn determine the prospects for future peace. Aftermaths of all 20th-century partitions are used to examine the related hypotheses. Contrary to the arguments found in much of the extant scholarship, the findings indicate (1) that peaceful partitions are more beneficial than their violent counterparts; (2) that secessionist states are less likely to experience conflict than rump states; and (3) that partitioning for ethnic - as opposed to non-ethnic - reasons does not increase the likelihood of future conflict. Finally, (4) the results reveal a lower than expected degree of support for the common claim that partitioning leads to failure because partitioned countries tend to be ethnically diverse. These findings shed new light on the circumstances under which partitioning may be a useful policymaking tool

Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Extant taxon · Homeland · Operationalization · Opposition (politics) · Partition (number theory) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Secession · Sociology · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Psychology · Social Psychology

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