Partition (politics)

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In politics, a partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one community’s homeland. That change is done primarily via diplomatic means, and use of military force is negligible.^{[citation needed]}

Common arguments for partitions include:

• historicist - that partition is inevitable, or is already happening, this argument is related to historicism
• last resort - that partition should be pursued to avoid the worst outcomes (genocide or largescale ethnic expulsions), if other means fail
• cost-benefit - that partition offers, on balance, a better prospect of conflict reduction than the maintenance of the existing borders
• better tomorrow - that there will be a reduction in actual violence and conflict recurrence, and that the new more homogenized polities that emerge will have better prospects for the peaceful development in future
• rigorous end - heterogeneity in cultures is bad, homogeneous states should be the goal of any policy^{[citation needed]}

Common arguments against include:

• It creates enormous human suffering

• Grievances that could eventually lead to more deadly violence, such as the Korean and Vietnam wars.

• It prioritizes race and ethnicity to a level only acceptable to an Apartheid Regime

• The international system is very reluctant to accept the idea of partition in deeply divided societies

[edit] Examples

Notable examples (see also Category:Partition) are:

• Partition of Prussia by the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466^{[1] [2]} creating Royal Prussia, and Duchy of Prussia in 1525^[3]
• Partition of Catalonia by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659: Northern Catalan territories (Rousillon) was given to France by Spain.
• In the 1757 Second Treaty of Versailles, France agreed upon the partition of Prussia^[4]
• Partition of the United States during the American Civil War.
• Partition of Prussia in 1919^[5]
• German occupation of Czechoslovakia^[6] and Munich Agreement of 1938
• Partition and Elimination^[7] of East Prussia^[8] among People's Republic of Poland and Soviet Union^[9]
• Three Partitions of Luxembourg, the last of which in 1839, that divided Luxembourg between France, Prussia, Belgium, and the independent Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
• Three Partitions of Poland and Poland-Lithuania in the 18th, with the fourth one sometimes referring to events of 19th and 20th centuries
• 1905 Partition of Bengal and 1947 Partition of Bengal
• Partition of Tyrol by the London Pact of 1915
• Partition of the German Empire in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles
• Partition of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1919 by the Treaty of St. Germain
• Partition of Ireland in 1920 into the independent Irish Free State and (British) Northern Ireland
• Treaty of Kars of 1921, which partitioned Ottoman Armenia between the republic of Turkey and the then Soviet Union (Western and Eastern Armenia)
• Partition of Germany and Berlin after World War II, annexation of Former eastern territories of Germany
• Partition of Korea in 1945
• 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine (region); this partition was abortive, as the proposed Palestinian state was never formed; Israel took most of the territory, with some going to Transjordan and Egypt.
• Partition of India (colonial British India) in 1947 into the independent dominions (later republics) of India and Pakistan (which included modern-day Bangladesh)
• Partition of Korea in 1953
• Partition of Punjab in 1966 into the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh
• Partition of Pakistan in 1971, when East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Partition of Vietnam in 1954
• The hypothetical partition of the Canadian province of Quebec

[edit] See also

• Separatism
• Secession

[edit] References

• Brendan O’Leary, DEBATING PARTITION: JUSTIFICATIONS AND CRITIQUES