Independence

TheFinnish Senateof 1917, Prime MinisterP. E. Svinhufvudin the head of table. The Senate declaredFinland independenton 4 December 1917, and it was confirmed byparliament6 December 1917^[1]which became theIndependence Day of Finland.

Independenceis a condition of anation,country,orstate,in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exerciseself-government,and usuallysovereignty,over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of adependent territoryorcolony.The commemoration of the independence day of a country or nation celebrates when a country is free from all forms ofcolonialism;free to build a country or nation without any interference from other nations.

Definition of independence

Whether the attainment of independence is different fromrevolutionhas long been contested, and has often been debated over the question of violence aslegitimatemeans to achieving sovereignty.^[2]In general, revolutions aim only to redistribute power with or without an element of emancipation, such as indemocratizationwithina state, which as such may remain unaltered. For example, theMexican Revolution(1910) chiefly refers to a multi-factional conflict that eventually led to anew constitution;it has rarely been used to refer to thearmed struggle(1821) against Spain. However, somewars of independencehave been described as revolutions, such as the ones in theUnited States(1783) andIndonesia(1949), while some revolutions that were specifically about a change in the political structure have resulted in breakaway states.MongoliaandFinland,for example, gained their independence during the revolutions occurring inChina(1911) andRussia(1917) respectively. Causes for a country or province wishing to seek independence are many, but most can be summed up as a feeling of inequality compared to the dominant power. The means can extend from intended peaceful demonstrations as in the case ofIndia(1947), to aviolent waras in the case ofAlgeria(1962). In some cases, a country may also have declared independence, but may only be partially recognized by other countries; such asKosovo(2008), whose independenceSerbia,from which Kosovo has seceded, hasnot formally recognized.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Distinction between independence and autonomy

Autonomyrefers to a kind of independence which has been granted by an overseeingauthoritythat itself still retains ultimate authority over that territory (seeDevolution). Aprotectoraterefers to an autonomous region that depends upon a larger government for its protection as an autonomous region.

Right to independence

During the 20th century wave ofdecolonizationcolonies gained rights to independence through documents such as the 1960Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,but this right remained mostly applicable only to unfree territorial entities, such as colonies.^[6] How much these rights apply to all people has been a crucial point of discussion. The rights tonationalityandself-determinationallow clarification. The right of self-determination allowsself-governance,as for example in the case ofindigenous peoples,but is not a right of secession, except in extreme cases of oppression as a remedy from the oppression.^[7]Therefore, theright to secessionis generally determined by the legislation ofsovereign statesand independence by the capacity to be a state.

Declarations of independence

Ismail Kemalat the first anniversary of theAssembly of Vlorëwhich proclaimed theindependence of Albania(28 November 1912)

Sometimes, a state wishing to achieve independence from a dominating power will issue adeclaration of independence;the earliest surviving example isScotland'sDeclaration of Arbroathin 1320, with the most recent examples beingAzawad's declaration of independence in 2012 andCatalan declaration of independencein 2017. Declaring independence and attaining it, however, are quite different. A well-known successful example is theU.S. Declaration of Independenceissued in 1776. The dates of established independence (or, less commonly, the commencement of revolution), are typically celebrated as a nationalholidayknown as anindependence Day.

Historical overview

Historically, there have been four major periods of declaring independence:

from the 1770s, beginning with theAmerican Revolutionary Warthrough the 1830s, when the last royalist bastions fell at the close of theSpanish American wars of independence;
the immediate aftermath of theFirst World Warfollowing the breakup of theOttoman,Austro-Hungarian,Russian,Germanempires;
1945 toc. 1979,when seventy newly independent states emerged from the Europeancolonial empireslike India, Algeria etc. and the collapse of theNazi German Reichand theEmpire of Japan;^[8]
and the early 1990s, following the breakup of theSoviet Union,CzechoslovakiaandYugoslavia.

Continents

	No.	Most Recent Country to Gain Independence
Africa	54	South Sudan(2011)
Americas	35	Saint Kitts and Nevis(1983)^[a]
Asia	44	East Timor(2002)
Europe	50^[b]	Montenegro(2006)
Oceania	14	Palau(1994)^[c]
Antarctica	N/A	de factocondominiuminternational

Notes

^
Independence from the United Kingdom.
^^ab
Part ofTranscaucasian Region,at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.Physiographically,Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are mostly in Asia with small portions north of theCaucasus Mountainsdivide in Europe.
^
An independent state infree associationwith the United States.

References

^Osmo Jussila – Seppo Hentilä – Jukka Nevakivi (1999).From Grand Duchy to a Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809.London: C. Hurst & Co. p.103.ISBN 0-8093-9112-0.
^Benjamin, Walter(1996) [1921].Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913–1926.Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 236–252.ISBN 0-674-94585-9.
^"Kosovo MPs proclaim independence".BBC News. February 17, 2008.
^"The world's newest state".The Economist.February 21, 2008.
^"International recognitions of the Republic of Kosovo".Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Archivedfrom the original on May 15, 2021.RetrievedJuly 6,2021.
^"Legal Aspects of Self-Determination".The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination.February 11, 1918.RetrievedMarch 31,2022.
^Shrinkhal, Rashwet (2021).""Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal ".AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples.17(1). SAGE Publications: 71–82.doi:10.1177/1177180121994681.ISSN 1177-1801.S2CID 232264306.
^David Armitage,The Declaration of Independence in World Context,Organization of American Historians,Magazine of History,Volume 18, Issue 3, Pp. 61–66 (2004)

v t e Secessionsby country
Africa	Mali South Africa
Asia	China Hong Kong Macau Taiwan Tibet Xin gian g India Khalistan Sikkim Indonesia Iraq Pakistan Philippines Russia Siberia Turkey
Europe	Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Russia Spain United Kingdom
North America	Canada Alberta Quebec Denmark (Greenland) United States
Oceania	Australia Tasmania Western Australia
South America	Brazil
Historical	Bangladesh Czechoslovakia Indian subcontinent Ottoman Empire Prussia Republic of Venice Soviet Union Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata Yugoslavia
Active separatist movements Historical separatist movements Independence referendum Irredentism Secession Separatism