Global terrorism, global challenges, global tax and global country taking care of all these things. Nowadays, when the plans to unite the Earth in one organism are getting closer and closer, we need to take a look on the alternative conceptions i.e. the conceptions of making every country independent.
The political reality is dynamic, some countries fall and some new are growing on their places. The formation of some of them is quite peaceful whereas others need to fight for their independence in long and brutal wars.
According to the law there are three basic elements which constitute a country: society, territory and the highest power. Those three criteria are a foundation on which one area can build its own independence and try to be considered as independent by other countries.
According to the Montevideo convention (in 1993) about the country’s rights and responsibilities, a fourth essential element has appeared – it is the capability to hold relations with other countries. Nowadays, a country is considered independent when it is internationally recognized.
For example, there are many states which are considered independent only by some societies. In Europe there are at least several controversial territories.
The most popular case is the one of Kosovo – even the members of the EU aren’t unanimous about its independence (countries such as Romania, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus and Spain do not accept it). The opponents of the autonomy of Kosovo say that it’s an artificial creation which came into being after the initiative of NATO that wanted to weaken and defeat Serbia (which was always a pro-Russian bastion on the Balkans). Also Russia is accused of similar actions – they support such quasi-countries as Transnistria or South Ossetia.
This situation often complicates international relations and agreements as, for example, in case of Cyprus joining the EU. The northern part of Cyprus is occupied by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus supported by Turkey but rejected by the eastern Greek part of the island.
The criteria of the international law
A set of conditions, that need to be fulfilled by a country wanting to be autonomous, was brought into being in order to avoid legal conflicts between countries and territories searching for independence.
One of them is the method consisting in separating from already existing subjects of the international law, their connection or creation of so called “res nullius”.
The interesting option is that several territories can make one independent country – that’s what happened with Poland one hundred years ago. Now the Kurdish people have the same aspirations.
The question of separation is the most controversial thing as we already mentioned while speaking about Kosovo, Cyprus and Transnistria. Many countries don’t want to accept their independence for fear of a dangerous precedent. Spain has been trying to deal with the Catalonian and Basque’s aspirations; Romania and Slovakia need to take into consideration the aspirations of the Hungarian minority. The national criterion is very significant and the minority question is difficult to deal with. However, sometimes the separatist movements can have a totally different ground like in two Italian cities Seborga and Filettino. Although the independence of Seborga is only symbolic, they have a monarchy existing since 1954. They also have 304 citizens, its own army and ducal authority. The Filettino community proclaimed its independence and decided to introduce its own currency “fiorito” as a protest against the economical plans of the government.
While the above declarations can be treated lightly, the statements of the Texas governor are more than serious. This state is the only one in U.S. having the possibility to leave the Union. Since the separatist tendencies in the southern part of the U.S are still vivid, the Rick Perry’s declaration of the secession of Texas certainly stroked many politicians in Washington. This entire situation ended up on verbal pronouncements but there’s still a possibility that some influential politician will raise this question again.
From no-man’s land
The most interesting subject matter is about the countries that rise on the “res nullius” territories i.e. on no-man’s lands ready to be appropriated. Even though there are few areas like this, it is still possible that somebody will create his/her country on the Moon, Mars or on a floating atoll. As for the latter – we already have some attempts to make it real.
Some may already know the story about Sealand – a principality created on a platform located near the seashore of Great Britain. The Seasteading Institute, which is popularizing the creation of countries on old drilling platforms, wants to introduce similar outcomes. Here’s a quotation from their website: “At The Seasteading Institute, we work to enable seasteading communities — floating cities — which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for government. The most successful can then inspire change in governments around the world.”
The Institute can count on the big sponsors such as the PayPal founder – Peter Thiel who donated 1,25 million dollars for their activities. The money will help to make the idea of sea colonies more popular and will also constitute the Poseidon Award which will be given to the first successful society created on the sea platform before 2015. For all those who do not believe in living on a platform we have another possibility – you can get the citizenship of the Free State of Caroline by registering yourself online.
Some pieces of advice
The future country creators also need to remember about the political system on their new areas. It turns out that monarchy is more practical than republic. The latter requires more complicated procedures such as introducing the parliament and the rules of cadence and choosing the candidates. Consequently, all the citizens in such micro country will become the members of parliament! The monarchy, on the contrary, is easier to set up – there’s only one monarch ruling usually till the end of his life.
An important privilege and asset of an independent country is the possibility of coinage. Maybe after Seborga and Filettino we will have some other micro countries with their own currency. It could even cause a huge scandal like in Poland few years ago when the Polish Mint produced money for the Republic of Transnistria; the transport was then stopped by the Ukrainian border control and the whole issue was presented to diplomats.
The separatist tendencies seem to grow stronger and stronger – we can see it by the actions of Scotland or Catalonia trying to become independent. The international relations and dominant crisis are even more favorable for this kind of behavior. Local societies need to use their own alternative currencies and who knows; maybe the more courageous people will take few steps forward.
