It's not flawed logic.
I already said there would be states that wouldn't care to invade/expand their borders. But they would have to worry about those that do. People have conflict for more reasons than "We're not being heard."
If you can secede and keep the peace.. then of course there is no problem. But this is the real world, that is going to be the exception.
The same worrying about other states applies today as things stand though.
Most of the conlifct in a state usually has to do with we are not being heard, we are not integrated, we mean nothing to those in power in society.
But there has been examples of peaceful secession in the real world, and my only argument is lets give it a try in africa, what is wrong with promoting that option?
Re: Your first point
We agree a lot on the
cause of ethnic nationalism within multinational states (particularly in the European context). However, the answer need not be secession all the time. Especially given the consequences of ethno-nationalism on a continent like Africa. I'll explain further in my second reply.
Re: Your second point
Africa being poorer does have a bearing. Why don't you realize that decades of warfare on a continent that's already poor will leave it poorer?
War is among the most destructive things you can do to a nation. If you want Africa to progress, why more war? War is a huge part of the reason why the DRC is so fukked up today. War is the biggest reason why Ethiopia's GDP per capita/human capital is so low. Ask the South Sudanese is they want
more war.
- What's also curious is that you're trying to put words in my mouth. Genocide/ethnic cleansing can occur within peaceful and non-peaceful contexts. I've already given you past examples. Your decision to ignore India-Pakistan partition and Nigeria's Civil War is a huge detriment to your arguments.
- Finally, I never claimed that peaceful dissolution led to the World Wars. I claimed that ethnic nationalism did.
Re: Your third point
Umm....you're argument is that large states in Africa already controlled by outsiders. You don't believe that if African states were on average the size of Benin that the continent would be weak?
Do you not understand that there's a correlation between state size and power???
Look at China, India, the US, Russia etc. etc. Do you think it's a coincidence that they all have over 100 million people?
- There's no guarantee that there'd be less corruption in these small ethnic states. You can't prove that there would be. Moreover, internal African conflicts would decrease in exchange for external African conflicts. Moreover, how are you going to divide African states? Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups. You want all of these groups to have a country?
In conclusion, you're going to do a lot of leg-work to prove your claims given that they have no basis in reality/do not negate the harms I've outlined.
1) I don't understand how one could be against peaceful secession, sorry.
2) Again being poor has nothing to do with peaceful secession and dissolution of a corrupt central state. On top of that, what i'm proposing isn't war or a resolution that leads to more war, so talking about war makes no sense in any context to what I've presented.
3) My argument is size is no deterrant from foreign powers taking advantage or wresting control from a nation as evidenced by reality in Africa today. The size of the population means nothing to the argument I've presented against your initial contention.
I never said there is a guarantee against corruption, I said in the event of corruption their is a closer feedback to the people to check on it, rather than in a larger government over more diverse people that is usually able to aid in corruption and entrench themselves by paying off their base/tribal/religious/etc.
Again you claim external conflict would increase, yet you've not provided me a reason why external conflict would increase. seperate nigeria into 250 individual sovereign nations, I don't see how this would cause warfare or change much of anything regarding peaceful coexistance.
In conclusion, your argument rests on a great deal of unfounded assumptions imho.
That said we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Before I plunge into my response are you a Black African? Have you been to Africa? Have you studied Africa?
I"m a black american.
I'm just offering my opinion the same way I do regarding european state of affairs.
If you think I"m missing someting though, please let me know, I'm enjoying the convo and I always like to learn more.