Irredentist Secessions as a form of Territorial Conflicts in the Post-Socialist Space: eruption, intercourse, outcomes

Abstract

The dissolution of Yugoslavia and the USSR did not lead to the emergence of large-scale territorial conflicts between the newly independent states, but provoked the unfolding of a number of secessionist conflicts, nominally domestic for these states. At the same time, for many "rebellious regions", the real goal of the conflict was not so much obtaining broader rights of self-government as such, but reunification with another state, closer to them in socio-cultural characteristics; therefore, such secessions should be considered as irredentist. In fact, irredentist secessions have become the main form of political conflict in the post-socialist space, replacing the classic interstate territorial conflicts. This article analyzes the phenomenon of irredentist secession, identifies the reasons for the special significance of this form of conflict in the space of the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and identifies the factors that determine the successes and defeats of the irredentist secessions under consideration. Qualifying post-Yugoslav and post-Soviet conflicts as irredentist secessions is an innovative approach for Russian science. Analyzing the normative parameters of the regional political context in the conditions of the dismantement of the socialist federations, the author identifies the reasons why territorial contradictions between the newly independent states took the form of irredentist secessions. Based on the synthesis of data on current and resoved irredentist secessions, the author formulates a general scenario of irredentist secession, identifies the factors causing such an outcome, and analyzes the possibilities for overcomimg this scenario. The main conclusion of the article is that over the past thirty years, the irredentist secession format has proved its inefficiency and inability to prevent the emergence of large-scale interstate conflicts: at one stage or another of its development, the irredentist secession underwent direct military attack from the mother state, which forced its patronage state to make a choice between abandoning the secession 'under custody' to be suppressed and open military intervention on its side.