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factors are the ones which this thesis will be focusing on in this chapter. This thesis finds that it is because of ethnicity and economic inequality that groups ask for greater autonomy and in turn, develop into the separatist movements that are known today. There is much debate between scholars as to whether these two factors actually generate separatist ideas in countries. Opinions are very much divided, therefore these arguments and theories will be explored before analysis will be conducted in Chapter 4.
Some scholars view economic inequality and ethnicity to be factors that are a given when conducting research on separatism while others have a different interpretation and place great importance on economic inequality and ethnicity as factors which drive separatist movements to appear. After extensive research, this thesis is going to argue that economic issues and ethnicity are all factors which affect the separatist movement in Scotland, and these factors play a huge role in the globalization-separatism debate in the context of Scotland; this will be explored in Chapter 4 of this thesis.
2.1 Is Economic Inequality a Cause for Separatist Identity?
Similarly, as with the concept of separatism, scholars’ views differ drastically. Some scholars view economic inequality to be a core cause for separatist identity, while others do not, and then, there are some who fluctuate in the middle, who view economic inequality as important for separatist identity but cannot determine it to be a root cause. Even though there are so many diverse opinions floating around, this thesis has taken the direction that economic inequality does indeed have a direct effect as a cause for separatist identity in the case study of Scotland and this will be illustrated in Chapter 4.
68 Horowitz, D. L. (1985), Ethnic Groups in Conflict, Berkeley: University of California Press
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discussing separatist movements. Metta Spencer and Petr Pithart are two of those scholars who do not view economic inequality as a root or catalyst for separatist movements. They voice the case of Czechoslovakia to back up their claims where, “the outcome was clearly detrimental to the Slovaks’ economic interests.”69 Spencer and Pithart argue that economic inequality as a factor is not a universal phenomenon and it is not a factor which is of the utmost importance to every separatist movement considering they might still do it even if it is damaging to their economy.Bertrand Roehner, argues along the same lines where he states, “The development of separatist movements…do not spring from economic motives...”70 and to back up his claim he believes that other factors are the cause for separatist movements and not economic factors,
“economic situation is almost irrelevant either as cause or consequence. The feelings of identification with a group are psychological phenomena whose roots lie in geography and history, and have little correlation with standard of living.”71 Roehner goes further to demonstrate the impossibility of a relationship between economic inequality and separatism,
“Like the achievement of stardom, the emergence or success of a separatist struggle depends sequentially upon a large number of special circumstances among which are the emergence of a charismatic leader, external support, a favourable international context, etc. Each of these factors in turn depends on a set of more or less random conditions which make any kind of prediction impossible.”72 Scholars arguing against the link between economic inequality and separatism base their arguments on the fact that there are many other factors to facilitate a separatist movement, it is difficult to pinpoint down economic inequality as a factor considering there are separatist movements who still separate from their metropolitan state despite the fact that separation may cause an economic downturn for them.
69 Spencer, M., ed. (1998), Separatism, Democracy and Disintegration, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., p. 202
70 Roehner, B. M. (2002), Separatism and Integration, A Study in Analytical History, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman
& Littlefield, p. 10
71 Roehner, B. M. (2002), Separatism and Integration, A Study in Analytical History, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman
& Littlefield, p. 11
72 Roehner, B. M. (2002), Separatism and Integration, A Study in Analytical History, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman
& Littlefield, p. 15
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There are scholars who sit in the middle of the debate about economic inequality being linked to separatism, these scholars find that income inequality could be a factor but it may not be a cause of separatist movements occurring. Milica Bookman is one of these scholars; however, Bookman does state the importance of the perception of income inequality: “The regions that have relatively lower incomes tend to believe that their region receives an insufficient share of capital investment, enjoys insufficient autonomy in the decision-making over their resources or in their representation at the center, is subject to biases in pricing policies and allocation of foreign exchange regulation, and receives a small share of foreign investment, aid, and other forms of foreign intervention. The perception by the population in the relatively high-income regions tends to be that they receive insufficient capital and budget allocations while making high contributions to the central budget. Numerous countries in the world contain both high- and low-income regions that have made these respective claims.”73 Bookman reveals that he does deem the perception of economic inequality as important but it is not necessarily definite.
Bookman’s point about the perception of economic inequality being important can be demonstrated through relatively high-income regions beginning separatist movements and this can be well exemplified by the cases in Europe. Separatism does not always occur because of lower-income regions, higher-income regions also feel unfairly treated with the distribution of wealth when they have to contribute more to the metropolitan state to support other regions.
European countries have seen a steady rise in the amount of higher-income regions generating separatist movements due to the savage cuts and measures being imposed by central governments on behalf of the troika international organizations – the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.74 Spain, Belgium, and Italy are a few of the European countries in which the higher-income regions are vying for independence.
73 Bookman, M. Z. (1992), The Economics of Secession, New York: St. Martin’s Press, p. 94-95
74 International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), “The Rise of Separatist Agitation in Europe,” World Socialist Web Site, October 30th 2012, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/10/pers-o30.html [Last Accessed:
November 7th 2015]
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In Spain, there are two powerful movements centered in the Basque and Catalan regions who wish to become independent. These regions are two of Spain’s richest regions in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.75 Catalonia has been one to watch recently because they are currently fighting to implement a referendum, just like Scotland has, to ask voters to vote “yes” or “no” to independence. In the previous few years, more than a million Catalans – that’s one in seven – marched under the banner “Som una Nacio. Nosaltres decidim” – “We are
a nation, we decide.”
76In the year of 2015, pro-independence parties are pushing ahead to hold a
referendum to become an independent state after winning an absolute majority of the seats in the regional parliament on the September 27th vote.77 As research has suggested, the reason behind this push for independence is due to economic inequality and the economic crisis which hit in 2008 as Spain’s economic crisis hit Catalonia especially hard with unemployment rates of just under 20% in 2014 when the whole sum of unemployment rates for Spain was 24%.78 Catalonians feel unfairly treated by the central government because Catalonia accounts for around 20% of Spain’s GDP but only makes up 16% of the Spain’s population;79 they feel that they are giving much more than the central government gives back. As demonstrated by the example of Catalonia in Spain, it can be illustrated that it is both high-income regions and low-income regions alike which both create separatist movements; it is the perception of being treated unfairly in terms of economic inequality which leads them to implement separatist movements.Ralph Premdas takes a wide approach to economic inequality as he explains that it is not as simple as just one factor being involved in separatist movements, he deems it as being a multiplicity of factors and they are interchangeable with each case study. He has constructed his
75 BBC News, “Catalonia’s Push For Independence from Spain,” November 3rd 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29478415 [Last Accessed: November 7th 2015]
76 Glover, J., “Spain: Why Prosperous Catalans May Beat Rebellious Basques to the Exit,” The Guardian, April 1st 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/01/spain-catalonia-independence [Last Accessed: November 7th 2015]
77 BBC News, “Catalonia’s Push For Independence from Spain,” November 3rd 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29478415 [Last Accessed: November 7th 2015]
78 BBC News, “Eurozone Crisis Explained,” September 28th 2012, http://www.bbc.com/news/business-17549970 [Last Accessed: November 7th 2015]
79 BBC News, “Catalonia’s Push For Independence from Spain,” November 3rd 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29478415 [Last Accessed: November 7th 2015]
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own framework, in which he states the creation of two categories: primordial and secondary. He defines primordial causes as “those cleavages in a society that are deep and serve to define the very identity of a group.”80 Factors that he places under primordial causes include: “(i) language;
(ii) religion, (iii) race; (iv) values or culture; (v) territory or homeland or region…”81 Whilst he argues that secondary factors “are features which have been recently acquired or experiences.
They serve as the triggering mechanism of collective consciousness felt by a group as it proceeds to define its demands. They include (i) neglect; (ii) exploitation; (iii) domination and internal colonialism; (iv) repression and discrimination; and (v) forced annexation.”82 Premdas contends that separatist movements are a mixture of primordial and secondary factors and each movement will contain a combination of these factors therefore, the focus of factors may alternate from one separatist movement to another. Thus, he claims that whilst economic inequality is a factor which contributes to separatist movements, it may not be the case for every movement as some might not place any emphasis on economic inequality at all. However, this thesis argues that for the cases of Scotland and Quebec, Premdas’s argument will not apply considering economic inequality is one of the main focuses for their separatist movements.
On the other side of the spectrum are those who do support the relationship between economic inequality and separatism. They believe that economic inequality does lead to separatism, as Gurr states, “the politics of identity are based most fundamentally on persistent grievances about inequalities and past wrongs, conditions that are part of the heritage of most minorities in most countries.”83 Gurr further exemplifies the definition for economic inequality as, “groups are said to be subject to economic discrimination to the extent that their members are or have been systematically limited in access to desirable economic goods, conditions, or positions that are open to other groups in their society.”84 As can be seen, Gurr finds that
80 Premdas, R. R. (1990), “Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective,” in Premdas, R. R., Samarasinghe, A., and Anderson, A. B., Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective, New York: St. Martin’s Press, p. 20
81 Premdas, R. R. (1990), “Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective,” in Premdas, R. R., Samarasinghe, A., and Anderson, A. B., Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective, New York: St. Martin’s Press, p. 20
82 Premdas, R. R. (1990), “Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective,” in Premdas, R. R., Samarasinghe, A., and Anderson, A. B., Secessionist Movements in Comparative Perspective, New York: St. Martin’s Press, p. 20
83 Gurr, T. R., ed. (2000), People Versus States, Minorities at Risk in the New Century, Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, p. xiv
84 Gurr, T. R., ed. (2000), People Versus States, Minorities at Risk in the New Century, Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, p. 109
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economic inequality contributes to separatist identity considering separatist movements find it difficult to forget the past and if their economic wealth is not comparable to that of their counterpart then it will most likely cause tension and lead to a separatist movement being born.
Beverly Crawford argues along the same lines as Gurr and illustrates that, “Cultural identities can be transformed into political identities when cultural groups are targeted for privilege or discrimination and when economic factors, no matter how ‘impersonal,’ lead to disproportionate hardships among culturally defined populations.”85 Crawford contends that when there are disproportionate amounts of wealth, separatist movements tend to arise because they feel like they are treated unfairly when compared to the metropolitan state. This “culturally defined population” feels discontent with the state and that leads them to take drastic measures when the range of economic wealth is not distributed evenly. Viva Ona Bartkus defines the term discontent for separatist movements as, “…discontent with its current circumstances within the existing state is necessary to motivate this identifiable unit to demand change, although in any individual case the causes of discontent are not necessarily identical to the motivations for the secession decision. Often the distinct community is bound together by common claims or perceptions of discrimination, neglect, exploitation, or repression, in economic, political, cultural, linguistic, or religious terms.”86 Discontent is a natural human reaction, especially towards either society or the economy, and if it is not handled correctly, the discontent will grow until a separatist faction or movement has arisen. It can be seen that it is a common occurrence around the world; movements tend to appear when there is dissatisfaction with the economy or status quo.
The phenomenon of economic inequality as a factor for separatist movements has been increasing in the EU countries since the economic crisis in 2008. The rich and developed regions in a number of countries started to voice their discontent with policies from the central
85 Crawford, B. (1998), “The Causes of Cultural Conflict: An Institutional Approach,” in Crawford, B., and Lipschutz, R., eds., The Myth of ‘Ethnic Conflict’: Politics, Economics, and ‘Cultural’ Violence, Berkeley:
International and Area Studies, University of California Press, p. 556
86 Bartkus, V. O. (1999), The Dynamic of Secession, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 11
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government and having to provide for weaker regions in the state.87 A study using Generalized Entropy was conducted to compare the inequality between countries versus within countries in Europe between 1975 and 2005, and the results showed that inequality within countries started accumulating in the early 1990s as shown in Figure 1 below.88
Figure 1: Shares of between and within inequality in the GE
“Although separatist movements in Europe have traditionally been based on ethnicity or religion, the current trend is based more on economics, and on the increasing centralization of
87 “Flemish Independence: Better to Become Good Friends than Stay Together in a Bad Marriage,” RT, September 18th 2014, https://www.rt.com/op-edge/188684-flanders-independence-referendum-belgium/ [Last Accessed:
November 7th 2015]
88 Bouvet, F., “Dynamics of Regional Income Inequality in Europe and Impact of EU Regional Policy and EMU,”
European Commission, February 2010,
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/events/2007/researchconf1110/bouvet_en.pdf.pdf [ Last Accessed: November 4th 2015]
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fiscal and monetary policies since the onset of the Great Recession. The credit crunch, debt crisis, unemployment and low growth rates have all been contributing factors.”89 If the economic stagnation in Europe endures, there could be a chance that more separatist movements will occur.
“The higher the income inequality, the higher will be the number of separatist incidents.”90 As demonstrated by the case of Catalonia in Spain above when discussing high-income regions striving for independence, Flanders in Belgium and the regions of South Tyrol, Veneto and Sardinia in Italy will be discussed here to demonstrate that the Great Recession and income inequality has caused more separatist movements to appear.
The feeling of economic disparity between the Flemish and the rest of the population in Belgium has been around since the 1970’s, when the economic discrepancy between Flanders makes it difficult for unity to occur between them. Both political and economic reasons play a huge part in shaping the separatist movements in these two regions and this can be illustrated by Flemish MP Tom van Grieken interview with RT where he stated that it was not only for political reasons that the Flemish people seek independence, but also for economic reasons as well. Tom van Griekan states, “Like I have already said, 60 percent of the population of Belgium is Dutch-speaking, Flemish-speaking and they produce 80 percent.”92 As can be seen by the figures produced by Tom van Griekan, the economic reasons given by the Flemish constitute a
89 Wagner, D., and Giannoulis, A., “Income Inequality and the Rise of European Separatist Movements,”
International Policy Digest, April 19th 2012, http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/04/19/income-inequality-and-the-rise-of-european-separatist-movements/ [Last Accessed: November 4th 2015]
90 Lucas, R. E. B. (2014), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, p. 452
91 Bershidsky, L., “Want to Secede? Follow the Flemish,” Bloomberg View, October 9th 2014,
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-10-09/want-to-secede-follow-the-flemish [Last Accessed: November 8th 2015]
92 “Flemish Independence: Better to Become Good Friends than Stay Together in a Bad Marriage,” RT, September 18th 2014, https://www.rt.com/op-edge/188684-flanders-independence-referendum-belgium/ [Last Accessed:
November 7th 2015]
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providing more than their percentage population. Perhaps Flander’s separatist movement can be summed up by De Wever, who became mayor of Antwerp, when he declared, “The Flemish have had enough of being treated like cows only good for their milk.”93Italy is another European country known for its separatist movements. Again, these movements have arisen due to economic inequality. Three cases have become prevalent in Italy:
Veneto, South Tyrol, and Sardinia. After five long years of recession, a call for independence was made in Veneto in 2014 as the people of Veneto believe that they would be stronger financially if they were set apart from Italy.94 The Veneto region held an unofficial referendum for independence, where 2.1 million Venetians chose independence,95 since Venetians have felt powerless in addressing the issues of the Great Recession as it does not possess a strong regional government, like Catalonia or Scotland. The European debt crisis caused a plummet of almost 10 percent and it has not recovered since in the region of Veneto.96 This situation frustrated many Venetians as they feel like their calls for change have been alienated and with Veneto being one of the most prosperous regions in Italy, they feel the economic disparity because they only receive five euros of government services for every seven euros that it pays in taxes.97 Venetians, instead of cultural differences, cite economic reasons for their movement towards independence since the north of Italy produces two-thirds of Italy’s GDP.98 Veneto is a clear case of where the separatist movement stemmed from economic inequality, as can be seen, economic inequality
93 International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), “The Rise of Separatist Agitation in Europe,” World Socialist Web Site, October 30th 2012, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/10/pers-o30.html [Last Accessed:
November 7th 2015]
94 Bianchi, L., “Venetian Separatists Want to Secede from Italy,” Vice News, March 20th 2014,
https://news.vice.com/article/venetian-separatists-want-to-secede-from-italy [Last Accessed: November 8th 2015]
95 Davies, L., “Italy’s Separatist Spirit Takes New Shape as Sardinians Push to Become Swiss,” The Guardian, March 3rd 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/23/italy-separatist-sardinian-swiss-canton-marittimo [Last Accessed: November 8th 2015]
96 Ford, M., “Europe’s Latest Secession Movement: Venice?” The Atlantic, March 24th 2014,
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/03/europes-latest-secession-movement-venice/284562/ [Last Accessed: November 8th 2015]
97 Ford, M., “Europe’s Latest Secession Movement: Venice?” The Atlantic, March 24th 2014,
97 Ford, M., “Europe’s Latest Secession Movement: Venice?” The Atlantic, March 24th 2014,