My country - Belgium - has been stuck in governmental talks for months and no end in sight. There has always been tension between the French and Dutch part and it seems to be becoming less and less solveable. So say both sides want to be shot of each other but there is no actual armed conflict, would / could the country just be split in two? Does that make two new countries? How would that work internationally? As much info as possible thanks. Forget letting the people decide, government has railroaded round every decision the people have made these last twenty years.
Other - Politics & Government - 5 Answers
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1 :
It's pretty unlikely for a country to peacefully split into two parts. In most cases, there will be resources in the other 'new' countries region that both 'new' countries will want, and neither will want to give up. Then the killing starts.
2 :
Put it to a nation wide VOTE.....let the people decide.
3 :
It can happen. An example to read up on is the former Yugoslavia which has now become Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. This was not peaceful by any means but it is a precendent. You can declare a new country, the process would then be to become "recognised" by the international community by gaining their support, which is not necessarily easy. This is not like a law or anything but unless you have the support of the international community it could be difficult to trade with other countries which is vital in todays world. In the case of Yugoslavia the international community was involved in the breakup and rebuilding of the country so the recognitions were much easier to come by. But as i said, recognition is not really an official process to which there are rules. Perhaps a formal aspect would be acceptance into the United Nations (UN) but this is more of a government recognition rather than a nation. The main problem would come from getting internal agreement to the change What makes this whole topic difficult to explain in a forum like this though are the many many issues involved in seperating a country which almost invariably leads to conflict. For instance how would you divide belgium geographically? invariably though a general divide might exist the population will in some way be mixed up, this means you would have to clear the dutch people out of the French sections, probably against many peoples will. This is called "ethnic cleansing" which is a crime in international law. This is exactly what happened in yugoslavia which is why it was such a terrible, terrible mess leading to one of the genocides of the 20th century. And we have even started talking about resource allocation yet, most wars are fought over who gets control of natural resources - Think iraq and the kuwait region. Kuwait has most of the oil and wanted to break away and form its own country with the result that Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of villagers because he was so desperate to maintain control of the the richest parts of the country. Currently think Israel and palestine where no one can agree how a palestinian state would work. Country seperation is theoretically possible if both sides simply agreed to do it (and by that i mean ALL the people of the current nation). And if this was done i can't see the international community being too adverse to it. But in reality the road is fraught with a thousand difficulties- its never going to be simple you can rest assured...
4 :
well in the oldendays conflics like this would be settled by civil war. but as youre discussing belgium here. i would say that is very very unlikely. usually when the civil war ends, a peace is signed and borders are drawn. In most cases however, in more modern history, the UN interveins in civil wars. to protect the peace. (think of yugoslavia.) the countries wouldnt realy become countries unless a government is established. and this government is backed. this could either be by a military pressence large enough to defend the country, or by a government that is backed internationally, either by the un or a powerful neighbouring state. but since europe has been a very stable region over the last 50 years, this is very unlikely. Stately reforms have been in discussion since the forming of belgium. and mostly this is towards some autonomy or 2 headed state. the negotiations always strand on deciding who takes brussels, which is bi-lingual. as is, it does not realy matter. belgium is already in the european union, and splitting the country isnt realy an option. what would that mean to the european ideal of setting aside out differences? when the country that houses the capitol of the union, splits in two?
5 :
If Belgium was to split in 2 then there wouldn't be an open war, but the economic, social and culture effects would cause more damage then war. Social security, medical care, etc. All this would be destroyed and these systems are amongst the best, if not the best in the world. The whole Belgian system has been constructed by the wallons and the Flemish in 150y and everything would be gone in a matter of months. That's why none of the Belgian politicians will ever allow that Belgium be split in half. Except maybe Dewinter but I hate that freak of nature. Belgium has been the example of a country that can work politically, even with 3 language communities, cause some forget that the German community also has a say in this, even though they have to vote for Wallon parties. The 3 have always learned that they need each other, When the Wallons were the most powerfull 100y ago they knew that without the Flemish they were nothing. Now the Flemish have to see that without the Wallons they are nothing. When the mines and factories closed in Wallonia, the whole central of power shifted to Flanders. (The German part isn't that important in the history of belgium cause it was given to them after the second world war. They came smack in the middle of the change of power.) Now Flanders still is the richest, most developed, and attractive part of Belgium but without the Wallons they have nothing. The social and cultural system doesn't allow them to be split, if they do they could end up destroying everything they built. And if they really want to split they will take their time and try to find a sollution that doesn't affect their social system. So don't fear a separation just yet. Only when they feel ready and have a safe way of going their separate way, then they'll do so. Vive la republic. Hehe, always fun to say that.
