Partition Of States

With every conflict, past and present, along with it comes questions of what caused it, but more importantly how will it be resolved. As we have studied in the course, there are many different causes and varying combinations of what triggers a war. To contrast this, there are also different ways to try and nullify violence between warring states. One of these potentially viable solutions is the practice of partition. We examine how this affects the parties in question, and further look at if the partitions themselves challenging if they prove more harmful than they are helpful. This may heavily depend on the causes of the conflict, based in ideology or ethnic differences. With that said, we have to take on the question at hand on a case-by-case basis.

As we take a look at Bosnia, we can easily identify that the conflict lies in ethnic differences. According to Kaufmann, " Ethnic conflicts are disputes between communities which see themselves as having distinct heritages, over the power relationship between the communities, while ideological civil wars are contests between factions within the same community over how that community should be governed. The key difference is the flexibility of individual loyalties, which are quite fluid in ideological conflicts, but almost completely rigid in ethnic wars." As like in most of Yugoslavia at the time, Serbs were fighting for a greater Serbian nation and one of their targets was predominantly Muslim Bosnia. Attempts at peace through international aid resulted with the Dayton peace accords. By then, ethnic cleansing practices have run rampant, and refugees fleeing from village to village, and some neighboring countries. The accords brought only hardened the lines between the ethnic groups partly because of the severity of the situation was expected to heal too quickly.

The partition in Cyprus came about in a unique way, in that it was a minor issue that was ignited and made severe by Britain and other states. During the negotiation process beginning in 1988, problems began to arise again. The Greeks began rebuilding their armies and again assaulted the Turkish Cypriots. A resolution was eventually instilled, but was hardly followed. Violence rang through the island, up until 1998 when a new proposal was enacted. This new proposal was very reminiscent of the one back in 1960, and did very well for Cyprus. It eliminated the partition and confirmed both the internal and external balances of the prior. Most importantly, it provided for a freely negotiated and mutually accepted solution.

The partition of Ireland in 1922 was result of the halt of fighting between Great Britain and the Irish Republican Army. No victories were claimed, and lead Ireland to seek some form of self-rule.