Declaration of Independence

#REDIRECT declaration of independence

Declaration of independence

A declaration of independence is a proclamation of the independence of a newly formed or reformed independent state from a part or the whole of the territory of another nation, or a document containing such a declaration. Declarations of independence are generally made by one side without the consent of the previous government, and hence are sometimes called unilateral declarations of independence (UDI). Used without qualification in English, "''The'' Declaration of Independence" sometimes refers to the Declaration of Independence (United States): the first such declaration so called. ==Overview== In international law, unilateral declarations of independence are generally frowned upon, since preservation of territory is one of the few things that the countries of the world universally agree upon. Declaring independence or supporting such a declaration is seen as a hostile act, that may easily lead to war. Money is often an important factor when one state attempts to succeed another, with control of important resources such as ports, oil fields or strategic towns or geographic features leading to dispute. If a government has extremely large debts to other organisations, there will be international pressure for these debts to be taken over by successor governments, even if the original governmental organisation is disbanded. Many states have come into being through a UDI. The legality of a UDI is often the subject of debate and unsurprisingly the previous government typically asserts that a UDI is illegal. Often, international bodies and other countries decline at first to accept the legitimacy of the declared state and its government. If the declared state becomes a functioning entity, it may gain diplomatic recognition over time and a form of retrospective legitimacy. Not all declarations of independence result in actual states and those governments that do result from UDIs do not always survive and are often rivaled by the previous government. A significant number of unilaterally declared governments collapse or otherwise give way, with control returning to the previous government or shifting to a further, successor government. Many declarations of independence, including those of Texas (now part of the United States), Rhodesia, and Vietnam have been modeled on the United States declaration. ==List of UDIs== *Declaration of Arbroath (Scotland, 1320) - The first known formal declaration of independence in which Scottish leaders declared Scotland's independence from England on behalf of the Scottish people. *Oath of Abjuration (Low Countries, 1581) - The ''Plakkaat van Verlatinghe'' was the formal declaration of independence on July 26, 1581 of the independence of the northern Low Countries from Philip II of Spain of Spain. *Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776) - Made by thirteen of Great Britain's North American colonies. In 1778, the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce were signed by the United States and France signaling the first official recognition of the new country. The Kingdom of Great Britain formally recognized the new country following the Treaty of Paris (1783) in 1783. *Brazilian Declaration of Independence (1822) - Brazil was declared independent from Portugal on September 7 by then regent Pedro de Bragan�a e Bourbon, who was then crowned Peter I of Brazil. *Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand (1835) - This was a declaration of the independence of the Maori tribes. *Texas Declaration of Independence (1836) - Texas declared its independence from Mexico as the Republic of Texas. *Philippine Declaration of Independence (1898) - The Philippines were declared independent from Spain by Emilio Aguinaldo on June 12, 1898 when the Spanish-American War was still under way. However, neither Spain nor the United States recognized the declaration. ''De facto'' Philippine independence was finally achieved and recognized on July 4, 1946 after 48 years of United States colonial rule. *Easter Proclamation (Ireland, 1916) - During the Easter Rising in Dublin Irish rebels proclaimed, on behalf of the Irish people, the establishment of an independent Irish republic. Unlike the later Declaration of Independence of 1919, the Proclamation of the Republic was not issued by an elected body and was not followed by the establishment of any ''de facto'' political institutions. *Irish Declaration of Independence (1919) - The Irish Republic, encompassing the whole island of Ireland, was declared by D�il �ireann (1919-1922) (an extra-legal revolutionary parliament) in 1919. By the declaration the D�il claimed to "ratify" the earlier Easter Proclamation. The new Irish Republic was recognized by no country except the Russian SFSR, was rivaled by the administration of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the Anglo-Irish War, and was ultimately superseded by the Irish Free State in 1922. *Icelandic Declaration of Independence (1944) - Iceland unilaterally declared its independence from Denmark, following a plebiscite of the local population, on June 17, 1944. The Danish Christian X, whose country was under Occupation of Denmark at the time, had urged Iceland to wait until the end of the war before making any such move but otherwise did nothing to prevent it (and was unable to do so in any case). *Indonesian Declaration of Independence (1945) - Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands on August 17, 1945. Its independence was soon recognized by the United States and Australia, but not by the Netherlands until 1949. *Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (1948) - The declaration was made on May 14, 1948 (the day in which the British Mandate over Palestine expired) by the Jewish People's Council. *Katangan Declaration of Independence (1960) - Katanga, a former a province of the Belgian Congo, attempted to seceded by means of a UDI in 1960, when Congo was granted its independence. The attempted secession was ended by the implementation of the United Nations supervised National Conciliation Plan in January, 1963. *Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia) (1965) - Ian Smith's white minority government declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. Few states accepted this declaration's legitimacy. The UDI Rhodesian state was ultimately replaced under the Lancaster House Agreement by a restored British regime under a governor: Lord Soames. Within a short time, a new, much more widely recognized independent state, Zimbabwe, came into existence. *Declaration of Independence of Guinea-Bissau (1973) - Guinea-Bissau, formerly Portuguese Guinea, declared independence from Portugal. The declaration was recognized by many countries, before Portugal formally granted independence in 1974. *East Timorese Declaration of Independence (1975) - East Timor, formerly Portuguese Timor, declared independence from Portugal on November 28. The declaration was recognized by several Communist (Communist state) and Third World nations, including the People's Republic of China, but not by neighboring Australia, Portugal or Indonesia. Indonesia invaded on December 7, 1975, and annexed East Timor as its 'twenty-seventh province' on July 17, 1976. *Declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (1983) - The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed in northern Cyprus in 1983. The area had been occupied by Turkish forces since a Turkish invasion in 1974. The state has only received international recognition from Turkey and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. *Palestinian Declaration of Independence (1988) - The Palestinian Liberation Organization unilaterally proclaimed the State of Palestine in 1988. The PLO had no control of any territory at the time and a ''de facto'' state has yet to come into existence in the occupied territories. *Somaliland Declaration of Independence (1991) - With Somalia sliding down into total anarchy, the former colony of British Somaliland, which became a constituent state of the newly independent Somalia in 1960, reasserted its independence. Despite the non-recognition of Somaliland by the international community, Somaliland has enjoyed stability and economic growth. *Recent self-declared states include Chechnya and Puntland. ==Possible future UDI in Quebec== The Canadian province of Quebec has made public its intention to issue a UDI if the federal government of Canada were to refuse negotiations for secession after a winning referendum on sovereignty. The Supreme Court of Canada issued an opinion that there was nothing in the Canadian constitution, nor in international law to give legal effect to a UDI. Many jurists stated that if indeed this was true, it was also true that there was nothing legally preventing a UDI either. The Supreme Court also stated that were the Quebec people to vote 'Yes' in a referendum on independence, the federal government and the provincial governments would have to negotiate. (''see Reference re Secession of Quebec''). ==Independence without a UDI== In many cases, independence is achieved without a declaration of independence but instead occurs by bilateral agreement. An example of this is the independence of many components of the British Empire, most parts of which achieved independence through negotiation with the United Kingdom government. One notable example of ''de facto'' independence in the absence of a formal declaration of independence is Taiwan, which is administered by the Republic of China (ROC). The People's Republic of China (PRC) has stated that a formal declaration that Taiwan is independent of China would be one of the conditions under which they would use force against Taiwan. The political status of Taiwan remains controversial; the position of most supporters of Taiwanese independence has been that since Taiwan has never been a part of the PRC, and the governing institutions of the ROC function as an independent and sovereign state, there is no need to formally declare Taiwan to be independent. Opponents of Taiwanese independence on Taiwan itself, who are sometimes but not always supporters of Chinese reunification, also see no point in a declaration of independence in that they argue that Taiwan is and should be part of a greater cultural entity of China, and a new Republic of Taiwan would only bring about a change in name in exchange for an invasion attempt Taiwan could little afford. ==See also== *Independence Day *Separatism ==External links== *[http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_9_Notes.htm Current Validity of Declaration of Independence] International law National liberation movements vi:Tuy�n ng�n độc lập

Declaration of independence

The position of supporters of Taiwan independence is that Taiwan has always been independent of the PRC. Most supporters of Taiwan only grudgingly acknowledge the existence of the Republic of China. --- User:Roadrunner :That statement implies that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign state and is therefore not NPOV. They only say what they do because they equate the ROC with "Taiwan" and the ROC is an independent and sovereign state. As it is worded now, it is too misleading. --User:Jiang 03:43, 30 Jul 2003 (UTC) :: My statement is that supporters of Taiwan independence believe X. X is POV. Saying Y believes X is not POV. My problem with what you said was that it isn't want supporters of Taiwan independence believe. I happen to think that most supporters of TI accept the idea of the Republic of China only out of political convenience, and that Chen Shui-Bian would junk the ROC in a second if he could get away with it. :: I added the position of supporters of Chinese unification to add balance. --User:Roadrunner I read an interview on cnn.com a couple years ago in which Chen Shui-bian said something in the lines of "Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country whose official name is the Republic of China, which has been in continued existence since 1912." Indeed, if you go on gov't websites, you'll see comparison charts in which official name of China=PRC and official name of Taiwan=ROC. If they can use that term, why can't we? (Even if it is for "political conveinience".) : Keep in mind that I'm extremely anti-Taiwan independence, and in explain what supporters of TI believe, I don't necessarily believe it myself (and I don't). My purpose is to explain why supporters of Taiwan independence on Taiwan no longer think that a declaration of independence is necessary. Most of them, including Chen, don't care about ROC, and ROC Independence is only means by which they can achieve Taiwan independence. : The notion that ROC is the official name of Taiwan is very new (i.e. you won't see it pre-Lee Tenghui), and moves the situation very much toward Taiwan independence. This statement is a little murky: "Supporters of Chinese reunification on Taiwan also see no point in a declaration of independence in that they argue that the People's Republic of China has never administered Taiwan and that Taiwan is and should be part of a greater entity of China." Again, this statement implies that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state, which reunifications dont believe in. : You can reword that a bit. Keep mind though the reunificationists on Taiwan have the play the same sort of games that TI supporters have to play. I've heard speeches by Soong Chuyu that sound very much like what Chen says. Chen has to talk about ROC. Soong has to talk about Taiwan sovereignty and ROC independence. Don't they argue that Taiwan independence would be a needless name change, and would do nothing to improve the status quo? : The argument would be that a declaration of independence is not possible right now and would lead to an invasion which no one in Taiwan wants. But the overall strategy is to make ROC=Taiwan, and then gradually get rid of ROC. : One thing that you have been keep in mind in politics is who your adversaries are and what they want. Ultimately, most TI supporters want peace and we all share a single small planet, and so all of us have to compromise and be sort of nice and civil to each other. At the same time, one has to be clear that want I want is very different from what TI supporters want, and while everyone is subscribed to a compromise and truce that defers a lot of the controversial topics, we don't see the world the same way, and we don't want the same things. --User:Jiang 03:56, 30 Jul 2003 (UTC) Is there a general consensus that the new state would be titled Republic of Taiwan? --User:Jiang :: Yes, but I changed the statement from ROT to Taiwan, because it's pretty clear that a formal declaration of ROC independence would also likely trigger some pretty strong action from the PRC. -- User:Roadrunner ---- ==Lists== Is there a possibility of having a separate article like, Lists of Declarations of Independence? What qualifies DoIs to be included in the list of example DoIs? Probably half the nations on Earth have DoIs, almost all of which are interesting to read. --User:Seav 11:54, 1 Sep 2003 (UTC) == MIxed up article == Who mixed up two different legal concepts??? A ''Unilateral Declaration of Independence'' (always capitalised) and often written as UDI, is an extra-legal declaration of independence that never becomes a reality because it is not accepted by the international community. Examples: * Rhodesia in the mid 1960s * the Irish Republic in 1919 A Declaration of Independence is a legal declaration that may be extra-legal and accepted subsequently ''or which may be declared in full conformity with international law and accepted immediately'' (which is why it is different and so belongs on a different page!). They are ''two different things'' with ''different legal meanings'', ''different procedural modalities'' and ''different legal outcomes''. What the heck are the two doing merged in this page? (And what the heck is ''independence'' doing lowercased? A Declaration of Independence is capitalised because it refers to a formal document whereas when written as an ''independence declaration'' it is lowercased, because one refers to a specific legal document by name, one refers generically to the process. More of this nutty lowercasing of things that are formally uppercased, like a when someone tried to lowercase ''Letter of Credence'' even though it is uppercased when referring to the formal name of a legal document, lowercased when written generically of as ''credentials''. Yet more nutty semi-literary on wikipedia. When people edit pages about legal and constitutional topics it would help if they actually knew what they are doing!!! So now all the ''UDI'' pages on wikipedia point to the wrong page, not to mention the wrong facts, and a definition that is wrong for a UDI and a DI!!! Fear''�IREANN''">User:Jtdirl 01:43, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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