ABSTRACT
But self-determination is not always bloody. If there has been war over Chechnya and Moldova, we must also observe that most of the 15 independent states that emerged from the former Soviet Union departed in peace and have remained at peace. If the Slovak departure from Czechoslovakia and the French-speaking Quebecois’ drive for independence have been rife with bitter words, messy procedures, questionably worded ballots and lack of proper plebiscites, we must also notice that these quarrels have thus far been conducted with little malice, and with at least a modicum of democracy.1 Even warring self
determination movements may sometimes evoke the democrat’s sympathy: the Iraqi Kurd quest for greater federal autonomy under Saddam Hussein, and many colonial independence movements, including, perhaps, the American revolution. Toward other movements, of course, democrats are divided and conflicted: the Scots, the Palestinians, the Croatians, the Bosnians.
