State Death: The Politics and Geography of Conquest, Occupation, and Annexation by Tanisha M. Fazal

Author:Tanisha M. Fazal [Fazal, Tanisha M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: International Relations, Comparative Politics, Political Science, Political Freedom, Geopolitics, General
ISBN: 9781400841448
Google: HiGvi3c1x-gC
Goodreads: 17035700
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2007-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

PART III_____________________________

THE NORM AGAINST CONQUEST

AND STATE DEATH AFTER 1945

Chapter 6______________________

Resurrection

Between state death and state birth is an important, and fascinating, category—state resurrection. More than half of all states that die violently later reenter the international system in something very close to their original form. Poland is a classic example of this phenomenon; in addition to being a quintessential buffer state, Poland is also a model of the phoenix state. Partitioned in 1795, Poland was reborn in 1919. Partitioned again in 1939, a resurrected Poland reappeared on the world map (albeit with a westward shift) after the Second World War.

Resurrection is also an important phenomenon in the history of colonialism. Algeria, conquered in 1830, reentered the international system as an independent state in 1962. Similarly, Burma regained its independence from Britain in 1948, but Sind did not reemerge as an independent state. How can this variation in state resurrection be explained?

Some explanations for state death can also be applied to state resurrection. The normative argument that explains the decline of violent state death after 1945 may also predict resurrection. Norms are typically slowly developing phenomena; they do not emerge overnight. The close of the Second World War was a key turning point in the history of the norm against conquest. For the first time, the chief proponent of this norm—the United States—had both the will and the means to enforce it. But the tenure of this norm precedes the end of World War II. We can date its presence in the international system to at least the end of World War I, when Woodrow Wilson championed the principle of territorial integrity for all nations. With the US retreat into isolationism during the interwar period, however, the full power of the norm was not realized. Even a tempered norm can exert some effect on international politics, though. If we do not expect the norm against conquest to prevent violent state death until after 1945, we might still expect that such actions might be frowned upon. To the degree that disapprobation was forthcoming, it might have led to reversals of state death. Thus, one corollary hypothesis of the normative argument is that violent state deaths that occurred after 1920 were more likely to be reversed than those that occurred prior to 1920.

A second corollary hypothesis of the normative argument is that all state deaths are more likely to be reversed after 1920, and particularly after 1945. With the United States as a new superpower disapproving conquest generally, past conquests might be more likely to be reversed. The US commitment to this norm, along with other factors, certainly helped in promoting the decolonization movement after World War II. Related, the nationalist resistance hypothesis might be better suited to predict resurrection as opposed to state death. The nationalist resistance argument places a heavy burden on would-be conquerors in its explanation for state death. It requires that conquering states predict accurately the degree of resistance they will face after conquest. The ability of conquerors to predict nationalist resistance beforehand may in fact be quite poor.

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