Editing Self-determination (section)

== History ==
=== Pre-20th century ===
The norm of self-determination can be traced to the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution|French]] revolutions, and the emergence of [[nationalism]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hecher|first1=Michael|last2=Borland|first2=Elizabeth|date=2001|title=National Self-Determination: The Emergence of an International Norm|pages=186–233 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/1550896|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|isbn=978-1-61044-280-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayall |first1=James |editor1-last=Breuilly |editor1-first=John |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-876820-3 | pages=539–540 | chapter=International Society, State Sovereignty, and National Self-Determination}}</ref> The European [[revolutions of 1848]], the post-World War I [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|settlement at Versailles]], and the decolonization movement after World War II shaped and established the norm in international law.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hechter |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZk2AQAAQBAJ |title=Alien Rule |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-04254-4 |pages=5 |language=en}}</ref> The American example has been seen as the earliest assertion of the right of national self-determination, although this was argued primarily in terms of resistance to a despotic ruler rather than appeals to a 'natural right' of peoples to determine their political fate, the latter emerging with the [[Spanish American wars of independence|independence of Spanish colonies in Latin America]].<ref name="Simma">{{cite book |last1=Oeter |first1=Stefan |editor1-last=Simma |display-editors=etal |title=The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary |date=2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780192864536 |pages=457–484 |edition=4th |chapter=Self Determination}}</ref>

These concepts were inspired particularly by earlier ideas from [[Hugo Grotius]] and [[Immanuel Kant]], and by the mid-nineteenth century 'self-determination' had evolved into a weapon for revolutionary nationalism.<ref name="Simma"/> [[Thomas Jefferson]] further promoted the notion that the will of the people was supreme, especially through authorship of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], which became an inspiration for European nationalist movements during the 19th century.<ref name="Unterberger" /> The French Revolution legitimized the ideas of self-determination on that [[Old World]] continent.<ref>Chimène Keitner, [[Oxford University]], [http://www.ciaonet.org/isa/woc01/National Self-Determination: The Legacy of the French Revolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304141255/http://www.ciaonet.org/ |date=2020-03-04 }}, paper presented at International Studies Association Annual Meeting, March 2000.</ref><ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B16FD3D5C147A93C2AB178CD85F4D8185F9 "Self-Determination Not a New Expedient; First Plebiscite Was Held in Avignon During the French Revolution—Forthcoming Book Traces History and Growth of the Movement"], ''[[New York Times]]'', July 20, 1919, 69.</ref>{{How|date=May 2024}}

Nationalist sentiments emerged inside traditional empires: [[Pan-Slavism]] in Russia; [[Ottomanism]], [[Kemalist ideology]] and [[Arab nationalism]] in the Ottoman Empire; [[State Shintoism]] and [[Japanese nationalism|Japanese identity]] in Japan; and [[Chinese nationalism|Han identity]] in juxtaposition to the [[Manchu people|Manchurian ruling class]] in China. Meanwhile, in Europe itself, the [[Rise of nationalism in Europe|rise of nationalism]] led to [[Greek War of Independence|Greece]], [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|Hungary]], [[Greater Poland Uprising (1848)|Poland]] and [[Bulgarian unification|Bulgaria]] all seeking or winning independence.

[[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] supported some of these nationalist movements, believing nationalism might be a "prior condition" to social reform and international alliances.<ref>[[Erica Benner]], ''Really existing nationalisms: a post-communist view from Marx and Engels'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=N-7Xc8WtCLgC&dq=%22self-determination%22+of+colonies+marx&pg=PA188 p. 188], Oxford University Press, 1995 {{ISBN|0-19-827959-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-19-827959-4}}</ref> In 1914 [[Vladimir Lenin]] wrote: "[It] would be wrong to interpret the right to self-determination as meaning anything but the right to existence as a separate state."<ref name="Lenin">{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/ch01.htm#v20pp72-395 |title=What Is Meant By The Self-Determination of Nations? |publisher=Marxists.org |access-date=2012-03-04}}</ref>

In contrast, [[Rosa Luxemburg]] called a "right of nations to self-determination", valid for all countries and all times, "nothing more than a metaphysical cliché" that offers no "practical solution of nationality problems" and argued that the very concept of the nation as an "homogenous social and political entity" was derived from [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] ideology.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Tom |title=Marxism and Nationalism |journal=International Socialist Review |date=October–November 2000 |issue=14 |url=https://isreview.org/issues/14/marxism_nationalism_part2/ |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="Luxemburg">{{cite book |last1=Luxemburg |first1=Rosa |title=The National Question, Chapter 1: The Right of Nations to Self-Determination |date=1909 |publisher=Marxists.org |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1909/national-question/ch01.htm |access-date=24 November 2024}}</ref>

=== World Wars I and II ===

==== Europe, Asia and Africa ====

[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Map of [[Aftermath of World War I|territorial changes]] in Europe after World War I (as of 1923)]]

[[File:Decolonization - World In 1945 en.svg|upright=1.5|thumb|Map of the world in 1945, showing [[United Nations Trusteeship Council]] territories in green<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/world45.pdf |title=The World in 1945 |date=May 2010 |work=United nations |access-date=2012-03-04}}</ref>]]

[[Woodrow Wilson]] revived America's commitment to self-determination, at least for European states, during World War I. When the [[Bolsheviks]] came to power in Russia in the [[October Revolution]], they called for Russia's immediate withdrawal as a member of the [[Allies of World War I]]. Lenin had used 'national self-determination' as a weapon against the [[Russian Empire]], and after the Revolution the party supported the right of all nations, including colonies, to self-determination.<ref name="Lenin" /> The 1918 [[Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918|Constitution of the Soviet Union]] acknowledged the right of [[secession]] for its constituent republics.<ref name="Unterberger" />

In January 1918 Wilson issued his [[Fourteen Points]] of January 1918 which, among other things, called for adjustment of colonial claims, insofar as the interests of colonial powers had equal weight with the claims of subject peoples.<ref name="Unterberger" /> The [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in March 1918 led to [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]]'s exit from the war and the nominal independence of Armenia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Poland, though in fact those territories were under German control.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} The end of the war led to the dissolution of the defeated [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] and the union of the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] as new states out of the wreckage of the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg empire]]. However, this imposition of states where some nationalities (especially [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Czechs]], and [[Serbs]] and [[Romanians]]) were given power over nationalities who disliked and distrusted them was eventually used as a pretext for German aggression in [[World War II]].

The [[League of Nations]] was established as the symbol of the emerging postwar order. One of its earliest tasks was to legitimize the territorial boundaries of the new [[Nation state|nation-states]] created in the territories of the former [[Ottoman Empire]], Asia, and Africa. The League was not consistent in how it applied the principle in the post-war peace treaties and, in many places, had to compensate with highly complex arrangements to ensure protection of minorities.<ref name="Oeter" /> Nor did the principle of self-determination extend so far as to end colonialism, under the reasoning that the local populations were not civilized enough the League of Nations was to assign each of the post-Ottoman, Asian and African states and colonies to a European power by the grant of a [[League of Nations mandate]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Fezzes in the River |author=Sarah D. Shields |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

One of the German objections to the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was a somewhat selective application of the principle of self-determination, as the [[Republic of German-Austria]], which included the [[Sudetenland]], was seen as representing the will to join Germany in those regions, while the majority of people in [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]] wanted to remain within the ''Reich''. However, the Allies ignored the German objections. Wilson's 14 Points had called for [[History of Poland (1918–1939)|Polish independence]] to be restored and Poland to have "secure access to the sea", which would imply that the German city of Danzig (modern [[Gdańsk]], [[Poland]]) be ceded to Poland.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 211.</ref>  At the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, the Polish delegation asked Wilson to honor point 14 of the 14 points by transferring Danzig to Poland, arguing the city was Polish until 1793, and that Poland would not be economically viable without it.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> During the [[Partitions of Poland|First Partition]] of Poland in 1772, the inhabitants of Danzig fought fiercely for it to remain a part of Poland,<ref>''Gdańsk i Ziemia Gdańska'' Franciszek Mamuszka Wiedza Powszechna, 1966 page 83</ref> but as a result of the [[Germanisation]] process in the 19th century,<ref>Książka polska w Gdańsku w okresie zaboru pruskiego 1793-1919, page 61 Maria Babnis, Ossolineum 1989</ref> 90% of its inhabitants were [[Germans|German]] by 1919, which led to the creation of the [[Free City of Danzig]], a city-state in which Poland had certain special rights.<ref>Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 218.</ref> Through the city of Danzig was 90% German and 10% Polish, the surrounding countryside around Danzig was overwhelmingly Polish, and the ethnically Polish rural areas included in the Free City of Danzig objected, arguing that they wanted to be part of Poland.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> Neither the Poles nor the Germans were happy with this compromise and the Danzig issue became a flash-point of German-Polish tension throughout the interwar period.<ref>Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 219.</ref>

During the 1920s and 1930s there were some successful movements for self-determination in the beginnings of the process of [[decolonization]]. The [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] granted independence to [[Canada]], [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], [[Commonwealth of Australia|Australia]], and the [[Union of South Africa]] after the [[British parliament]] declared itself incapable of passing laws over them without their consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2017 |title=Statute of Westminster 1931 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf |access-date=29 November 2024 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives (UK) |quote=All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 |archive-date=22 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222222020/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This statute built on the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]] which recognized the autonomy of these British dominions, representing the first phase of the creation of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth of Nations]]. [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], [[Kingdom of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]] also achieved independence from Britain.{{Dubious|reason=This independence was nominal at best, certainly in the cases of Egypt and Iraq, Britain maintained disproportionate influence over their affairs until the 50s|date=November 2024}} Other efforts were unsuccessful, like the [[Indian independence movement]]. Meanwhile, Italy, Japan and Germany all initiated new efforts to bring certain territories under their control. In particular, the [[National Socialist Program]] invoked this right of nations, as it was publicly proclaimed on 24 February 1920 by [[Adolf Hitler]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In Asia, Japan became a rising power and gained more respect from Western powers after its victory in the [[Russo-Japanese War]]. Japan joined the Allied Powers in World War I and [[Japan during World War I|attacked German colonial possessions]] in the [[Far East]], adding former German possessions to its own empire. In the 1930s, Japan gained significant influence in [[Inner Mongolia]] and [[Manchuria]] after it [[Mukden Incident|invaded Manchuria]].  It established [[Manchukuo]], a [[puppet state]] in [[Manchuria]] and eastern [[Inner Mongolia]]. This was essentially the model Japan followed as it invaded other areas in Asia and established the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]. Japan went to considerable trouble to argue that Manchukuo was justified by the principle of self-determination, claiming that people of Manchuria wanted to break away from China and asked the [[Kwantung Army]] to intervene on their behalf. However, the [[Lytton Report|Lytton commission]] which had been appointed by the League of Nations to decide if Japan had committed aggression or not, stated the majority of people in Manchuria who were [[Han Chinese]] who did not wish to leave China.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In 1912, the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] officially [[successor state|succeeded]] the Qing Dynasty, while [[Outer Mongolia]], [[Tibet (1912–1951)|Tibet]] and [[Tannu Uriankhai|Tuva]] proclaimed their independence. Independence was not accepted by the [[Beiyang government|government of China]]. By the [[Treaty of Kyakhta (1915)]] [[Outer Mongolia, 1911-1919|Outer Mongolia]] recognized China's sovereignty. However, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] threat of seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced China to recognize [[Mongolian People's Republic|Outer Mongolia's independence]], provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20, 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Many of [[East Asia]]'s current disputes to sovereignty and self-determination stem from unresolved disputes from World War II. After its fall, the [[Empire of Japan]] renounced control over many of its former possessions including [[Korea]], [[Sakhalin Island]], and [[Taiwan]].  In none of these areas were the opinions of affected people consulted, or given significant priority. Korea was specifically granted independence but the receiver of various other areas was not stated in the [[Treaty of San Francisco]], giving Taiwan ''de facto'' independence although its political status continues to be ambiguous.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== The Cold War world ===

==== The UN Charter and resolutions====

In 1941 [[Allies of World War II]] declared the [[Atlantic Charter]] and accepted the principle of self-determination. In January 1942 twenty-six states signed the [[Declaration by United Nations]], which accepted those principles. The ratification of the [[Charter of the United Nations|United Nations Charter]] in 1945 at the end of World War II placed the right of self-determination into the framework of international law and diplomacy.

* Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/ |title=United Nations Charter |publisher=Un.org |access-date=2015-05-08}}</ref>
* Article 1 in both the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] (ICCPR)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm |title=Text of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights |publisher=.ohchr.org |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303001412/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2012 }}</ref> and the [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]] (ICESCR)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm |title=Text of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |publisher=.ohchr.org |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303114220/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2012 }}</ref> reads: "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. "
* The United Nations [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] article 15 states that everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of a nationality or denied the right to change nationality.

[[File:Colonization 1945.png|thumb|right|upright=1.7|Western European [[colonial empire]]s in [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] disintegrated after World War II]]
On 14 December 1960, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV)]] subtitled "[[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]", which supported the granting of [[independence]] to [[Colonialism|colonial]] countries and people by providing an inevitable legal linkage between self-determination and its goal of decolonisation.  It postulated a new international law-based right of [[Liberty|freedom]] to exercise economic self-determination. Article 5 states: Immediate steps shall be taken in [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories]],<ref name="nonselfgov">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/decolonization/nonselfgov.shtml |title=Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories listed by the United Nations General Assembly |publisher=Un.org |access-date=2014-04-10}}</ref> or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the people of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.

On 15 December 1960 the United Nations General Assembly adopted [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV)]], subtitled "Principles which should guide members in determining whether or nor an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under [[Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter|Article 73e]] of the [[United Nations Charter]] in Article 3", which provided that "[t]he inadequacy of political, economic, social and educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying the right to self-determination and independence." To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514, in 1961 the General Assembly created the Special Committee referred to popularly as the [[Special Committee on Decolonization]] to ensure [[decolonization]] complete compliance with the principles of self-determination in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV).<ref name="ReferenceA">{{sourcetext|source=United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514}}</ref><ref>[http://unyearbook.un.org/1960YUN/1960_P1_SEC3_CH4.pdf United Nations General Assembly 15th Session - The Trusteeship System and Non-Self-Governing Territories (pages: 509-510)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320074502/http://unyearbook.un.org/1960YUN/1960_P1_SEC3_CH4.pdf |date=March 20, 2012 }}</ref>

However, the charter and other resolutions did not insist on full independence as the best way of obtaining [[self-government]], nor did they include an enforcement mechanism. Moreover, new states were recognized by the legal doctrine of [[uti possidetis juris]], meaning that old administrative boundaries would become international boundaries upon independence if they had little relevance to linguistic, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.<ref name="Hensel">Paul R. Hensel and Michael E. Allison, Department of Political Science [[Florida State University]] and Ahmed Khanani, Department of Political Science, [[Indiana University]], [http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/Research/io05.pdf The Colonial Legacy and Border Stability: Uti Possidetis and Territorial Claims in the Americas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050528084649/http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/Research/io05.pdf |date=2005-05-28 }}, research paper at Paul Hensel's Florida State university web site.</ref><ref name="Gudeleviciute">Vita Gudeleviciute, [https://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2009/10/Gudeleviciute.pdf Does the Principle of Self-determination Prevail over the Principle of Territorial Integrity?], ''International Journal of Baltic Law'', [[Vytautas Magnus University]] School of Law, Volume 2, No. 2 (April 2005).</ref> Nevertheless, justified by the language of self-determination, between 1946 and 1960, thirty-seven new nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East gained independence from colonial powers.<ref name="Unterberger" /><ref>[[:s:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514|Resolution 1514 (XV) "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples"]]{{Circular reference|date=January 2025}}</ref><ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/independence.htm Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508055042/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/independence.htm |date=2012-05-08}}, General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960.</ref> The territoriality issue inevitably would lead to more conflicts and independence movements within many states and challenges to the assumption that [[territorial integrity]] is as important as self-determination.<ref name="Hensel" />

==== The communist versus capitalist worlds ====
{{See also|Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War}}

Decolonization in the world was contrasted by the [[Soviet Union]]'s successful post-war expansionism. [[People's Republic of Tuva|Tuva]] and several regional states in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Baltic states|Baltic]], and [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]] had been fully annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II. Now, it extended its influence by establishing the [[satellite states]] of [[East Germany|Eastern Germany]] and the countries of [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern Europe]], along with support for revolutionary movements in [[China]] and [[North Korea]]. Although satellite states were independent and possessed sovereignty, the Soviet Union violated principles of self-determination by suppressing the [[Hungarian revolution of 1956]] and the [[Prague Spring]] Czechoslovak reforms of 1968. It [[Soviet–Afghan War|invaded Afghanistan]] to support a communist government assailed by local tribal groups.<ref name="Unterberger" /> However, [[Marxism–Leninism]] and its theory of imperialism were also strong influences in the national emancipation movements of [[Third World]] nations rebelling against colonial or puppet regimes. In many [[Third World]] countries, communism became an ideology that united groups to oppose imperialism or colonization.

Soviet actions were [[Containment|contained]] by the United States which saw communism as a menace to its interests. Throughout the cold war, the United States created, supported, and sponsored regimes with various success that served their economic and political interests, among them [[anti-communist]] regimes such as that of [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Chile]] and [[Suharto]] in [[Indonesia]]. To achieve this, a variety of means was implemented, including the orchestration of coups, sponsoring of anti-communist countries and military interventions. Consequently, many self-determination movements, which spurned some type of anti-communist government, were accused of being Soviet-inspired or controlled.<ref name="Unterberger" />

==== Asia ====
In Asia, the Soviet Union had already converted Mongolia into a satellite state but abandoned propping up the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]] and gave up its [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|Manchurian claims]] to China. The new [[People's Republic of China]] had gained control of mainland China in the [[Chinese Civil War]]. The [[Korean War]] shifted the focus of the Cold War from Europe to Asia, where competing superpowers took advantage of [[decolonization]] to spread their influence.

In 1947, India gained independence from the [[British Empire]]. The empire was in decline but adapted to these circumstances by creating the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]—since 1949 the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]—which is a free association of equal states.  As India obtained its independence, multiple ethnic conflicts emerged in relation to the formation of a statehood during the [[Partition of India]] which resulted in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India. Before the [[British Raj|advent of the British]], no empire based in mainland India had controlled any part of what now makes up the country's Northeast, part of the reason for the ongoing [[insurgency in Northeast India]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060824053616/http://www.apcss.org/Publications/Edited%20Volumes/ReligiousRadicalism/PagesfromReligiousRadicalismandSecurityinSouthAsiach10.pdf] p. 220</ref> In 1971 [[Bangladesh Liberation War|Bangladesh obtained independence]] from Pakistan.

[[Myanmar|Burma]] also gained independence from the British Empire, but declined membership in the Commonwealth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rothman |first=Lily |last2=Ronk |first2=Liz |date=2017-10-24 |title=‘The Turmoil of Burma’ in 1949: The Constant Conflict of Myanmar |url=https://time.com/4958097/burma-1949-conflict-turmoil-burma/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

[[Indonesia]] gained independence from the [[Dutch Empire]] in 1949 after the latter failed to restore colonial control.  As mentioned above, Indonesia also wanted a powerful position in the region that could be lessened by the creation of united [[Malaysia]]. The Netherlands retained [[Dutch New Guinea|its New Guinea part]] from the previous [[Dutch East Indies]], but Indonesia threatened to [[Operation Trikora|invade and annex it]]. A vote was supposedly taken under the UN sponsored [[Act of Free Choice]] to allow West New Guineans to decide their fate, although many dispute its veracity.  Later, [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] relinquished control over [[East Timor]] in the aftermath of [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1975, at which time [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|Indonesia promptly invaded and annexed it]]. In 1999, Indonesian president [[B. J. Habibie]] was pressured by [[Australia]] and the [[United Nations]] to give East Timor independence. The people of former Indonesian East Timor were given a choice of either greater autonomy within [[Indonesia]] or [[East Timor independence|independence]]. 78.5% of East Timorese voted for independence, rejecting Indonesia's special autonomy proposal.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/30/east-timor-indonesias-invasion-and-the-long-road-to-independence | title= East Timor: Indonesia's invasion and the long road to independence | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=29 August 2019 }}</ref>

=== After the Cold War ===
[[File:Cold War border changes.png|thumb|upright=1.5|[[List of national border changes since World War I|Changes in national boundaries]] after the end of the Cold War]]
The Cold War began to wind down after [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] assumed power as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet General Secretary]] in March 1985. With the cooperation of the U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]], Gorbachev wound down the size of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] and reduced nuclear arms in Europe, while liberalizing the [[economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet economy]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In the [[Revolutions of 1989|revolutions of 1989–90]], the communist regimes of Soviet satellite states collapsed in rapid succession in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, and Mongolia.  East and West Germany united, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]], while in the 1990s Yugoslavia began a [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|violent break up]] into 6 states. Macedonia became an independent nation and broke off from Yugoslavia peacefully. [[Kosovo]], which was previously an autonomous unit of Serbia declared independence in 2008, but has received less international recognition.<ref name="Unterberger" />

In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president and the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union dissolved]] relatively peacefully into [[Post-Soviet states|fifteen sovereign republics]], all of which rejected [[Communism]] and most of which adopted democratic reforms and free-market economies.  Inside those new republics, [[Commonwealth of Unrecognized States|four major areas]] have claimed their own independence, but not received widespread international recognition.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

After decades of civil war, Indonesia finally recognized the independence of [[East Timor]] in 2002.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In 1949, the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party]] won the [[Chinese Civil War]] and established the [[People's Republic of China]] in [[Mainland China]]. The [[Kuomintang]]-led [[Republic of China]] government retreated to [[Taipei]], its jurisdiction now limited to [[Taiwan]] and several outlying islands. Since then, the People's Republic of China has been involved in disputes with the ROC over issues of sovereignty and the political status of Taiwan.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

As noted, self-determination movements remain [[List of active autonomist and secessionist movements|strong in some areas of the world]]. Some areas possess ''de facto'' independence, such as Taiwan, [[North Cyprus]], [[Kosovo]], and [[South Ossetia]], but their independence is disputed by one or more major states. Significant movements for self-determination also persist for locations that lack ''de facto'' independence, such as [[East Turkistan]] ("Xinjiang"), [[Kurdistan]], [[Balochistan]], [[Chechnya]], and [[Palestine]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}