Russian-Danish Students Conference in Copenhagen. November – December 2018. Bjørnø Irina
their territories. USSR member countries began the exit process from the Union of Republics, and Slovenia withdrew from Yugoslavia in the early nineties of the twentieth century.
As before, the tendency of the existence and functioning of separatist movements, organizations, political parties remain in Europe. Their activity can be observed in Ukraine, Spain, France, Poland and Denmark. So, this article will focus on the phenomenon of separatism on the example of the last country in the mentioned list – Denmark.
The causes of the emergence of centrifugal tendencies in different states base on various factors: economic, ethnic, political etc. Scientific interest is reflected in the following questions: is there a direct link between the structure of Denmark and the emergence of separatist sentiments? Why are the separatist movements dominating the Faroe Islands? What are the causes of separatism?
Separatism in Denmark
The secessionist form of separatism aims at the creation of its own statehood (e.g. Northern Ireland in the UK); the ultimate goal of irredentism is joining another state (e.g. Hungarians in Romania). Enosis is a movement for reunification with a historical homeland (e.g. the Greek Cypriot movement for the unification of Cyprus with Greece in the seventies of the 20th century). Devolution is a movement in which regions inside the state require and receive political power and increasing autonomy from the central government (e.g. Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation).
D. Gordon in the book “Secession, State, and Liberty” [3] highlights the main factors that are decisive in the process of the emergence of a secessionist form of separatism in his opinion.
The author believes that secession is possible if:
– there is an economically depressed class in a certain part of the state;
– the union breaks up and the goal for which it was created is not achieved;
– most represent a mortal threat to the minority and the government is not able to protect the corresponding territory;
– people demand the right to self-determination: when the minority tries to preserve their own culture and the language from assimilation;
– the group tries to eliminate the past injustice in the event of conquest;
– there is a “rescue” from discriminatory redistribution (that is, from tax schemes, regulatory policies, economic programs, redirect resources to other territories, especially in a non-democratic way);
– the state is too large for effective management of the territories;
– The goal is to preserve “liberal purity” – the state provides an opportunity for less or more liberal regions to secede.
The population of the Faroe Islands falls on VII – VIII centuries during the campaigns of the Norwegian Vikings. The Faroe Islands had an independent parliament (Lögting), which enjoyed considerable independence in dealing with internal issues, despite the fact that the country became part of the Norwegian kingdom in 1035.
After the conclusion of the union between Denmark and Norway in 1380, the Faroe Islands became part of the United States [1]. According to the results of the Anglo-Danish war of 1807—1814, Danish-Norwegian union was dissolved. Despite this fact, the Faroe Islands, as a former part of Norway, remained part of Denmark in the form of an ordinary district [2].
According to the Danish Constitution of 1850, the Faroese Lögting owned the status of a provincial council without legislative competence, although with the right to submit legislative proposals to the Danish parliament. Despite this status, it became a form of expressing political positions by the Faroese. In connection with the spread of national movements of mainland Denmark, the Faroes launched a campaign to raise their status, which can be safely call the manifestation of the secessionist form of separatism. The “Party of self-government” formed in 1906. It originally intended to protect the Faroese language. Then it moved to the requirement of granting autonomy to the islands. Other political parties formed on the Faeroes also advocated an autonomous regime.
The strategic position of the Faroe Islands in the Mid-Atlantic had a significant impact on their fate during the Second World War. Britain in April 1940 occupied the archipelago in order to prevent the Faroe Islands from becoming the base of the German. Despite the formal occupation, the authorities of the Faroe Islands received considerable independence. The existing flotation as the administrative organ of the Faroe Islands in May 1941 entrusted legislative powers to the constitution itself. The Faroe Islands received their flag, which was placed on merchant ships registered on the Faroe Islands. It should be noted that the British presence was quite high on the territory of the Faroes as an alternative to the German occupation, and during this period the organizational foundations of separatism were actually laid [4].
The British occupation of the Faroe Islands ended in September 1945. The islands returned to the status of the county of Denmark. This caused considerable discontent among the population. As a result of numerous discussions with the consent of the Government of Denmark in 1946, there was a consultative survey (the Faroese parliament was not obliged to be guided by its results) among the inhabitants of the archipelago declaring full state independence of the Faroe Islands. With a slight margin of 161 votes (48.7% against 47.2%), the advantage was gained by supporters of the independence. According to the results of the poll, by 12 votes to 11, Lögting announced the withdrawal of the islands from Denmark. At the same time, the third largest island of the archipelago, Suduroy, announced that it remains part of Denmark.
Over the time, due to the incomplete legitimacy of this decision, which was not taken by the absolute majority, the King of Denmark dissolved the Faroese Parliament, and the majority of the new Lögting staff opposed the separation from Denmark. The parliamentary delegation of the Faroe Islands was invited to Copenhagen, and after lengthy negotiations on March 23, 1948, the Faroe Islands received the status of a “self-governing national community within the Kingdom of Denmark”, which was the result of a pragmatic compromise between the two sides [5].
In 1973, Denmark joined the EU, but the Faroe Islands refused to do the same. Since 1984, the Faroe Islands have been declared a non-nuclear country, although a number of military bases of Denmark and NATO are located on the archipelago.
The Danish Constitution of 1953 does not contain a reference to the autonomous status of the Faroe Islands. The act of autonomy of the Faroe Islands adopted in 1948 in the form of the Danish law, that is, the system of public authority on the islands based on ordinary rather than constitutional legislation, and autonomy authority is a consequence of donation from the central government. The Danish parliament has in fact the right at any time to change the act of self-government without the consent of autonomies. However, it is widely believed that the Faroe Islands Autonomy Act of 1948 is not an ordinary law, but it acts as a treaty between the Faroese Lögting and the Danish parliament, and then it can be canceled unilaterally.
Currently, the legal framework for the functioning of autonomy and its bodies includes the following laws of the Kingdom of Denmark:
– Act of Autonomy of the Faroe Islands of March 31, 1948;
– The Act on the Organization of Public Power in the Faroe Islands of July 26, 1995;
– Act on the spheres of responsibility of the authorities of the Faroe Islands of 12 May 2005;
– The Act on the Powers of the Government of the Faroe Islands in the Field of International Activities of 14 May 2005.
These documents identify the subjects of the Faroese autonomy, implemented directly by residents, by the representative and executive authorities of the Faroe Islands and their officials. The subjects of autonomy of the Faroe Islands were determined through a conciliation procedure between the central government of Denmark and autonomous