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The Separation of Somaliland from Somalia
Somaliland, a region which I predict will secede from Somalia in the not distant future, is located on the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the South and West, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and Somalia to the East.
Somalia has a lot of conflict in it’s history. Many years ago, the Somaliland region was previously a protectorate of Great Britain, called British Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somaliland, which is now the non-Somaliland Somalia. The two regions became Somalia. When Mohamed Siad Barre was dictator, he committed violence against clan-based protesters of the Somaliland region. This sparked a rebellion against the dictator, and through the war the region gained autonomy and declared independence, though it doesn’t have enough external recognition to be considered a state.
The boundaries are there because that is where the previous boundaries between Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland were before Somalia gained independence. As you can see from this map of northern Somalia, the border is also based off of the political groups. I could not find any layers for my map so I am using this map instead:
The dark green is Puntland, in which the people are unionist, meaning they do not want to secede. The orange, is Somaliland, in which the people are secessionists, which means that they want to secede. The rest of the political groups are unionist, except for Adwal (blue), which has a dispute with Somaliland. Once Somaliland becomes a state, this region has a possibility of seceding from Somaliland itself. The border between Somalia and Somaliland is cultural.
The dark green is Puntland, in which the people are unionist, meaning they do not want to secede. The orange, is Somaliland, in which the people are secessionists, which means that they want to secede. The rest of the political groups are unionist, except for Adwal (blue), which has a dispute with Somaliland. Once Somaliland becomes a state, this region has a possibility of seceding from Somaliland itself. The border between Somalia and Somaliland is cultural.
This possible separation will have impacts at both the local and world scales. After becoming a country, Somaliland may have positive affect on it’s residents and the rest of the world. It is doing economically well for a new, unofficial country. It’s main export is livestock, and agriculture has potential. It could possibly be a good business partner for another country, and a benefit to the world economy. However, since this is a violent conflict, many Somali lives will be lost in the process, and many civilians will be caught in the crossfire. The United nations will have to provide food water, and services to refugees. Business to and from Somalia will be greatly decreased. Surrounding countries will be affected by refugees coming into their borders for a safe haven, and may even become involved in the conflict.
The Reunification of North and South Korea
The potential new state of Korea is located in East Asia. To the north and northwest of it is China, and to the south and southwest is the East China Sea. To the east is the Sea of Japan.
Korea first split during WWII because of Japan’s annexation of it. Once that Japanese were defeated, China, Great Britain and the United States signed conference that said that Korea will one day be entirely independent. But until then, Russia and the US setup military occupation zones: Russia in the north, US in the south. The border was not meant to be long-term, but Cold War politics resulted in uncooperating sides and two separate governments. The north wanted a single communist government, while the south wanted a democracy. Thus, the Korean War began, and the State officially split into North Korea and South Korea. But things are looking up for the countries. Recently, it was announced that a representative from each government visited the other side, and that there are plans for reunification. The reason for this being, as said in the North-South Joint Communiqué, “As a homogeneous people, a great national unity shall be sought above all, transcending difference in ideas”. The leaders are basing this unification upon culture: ethnicity (the main ethnicity in both North and South Korea is Korean), language (in both states the primary language is Korean), religion (the majority in both is irreligious), and a shared history. The main centrifugal force between them is political differences, but there are many other cultural centripetal forces that would help unite the two countries.
The new borders for this country will be what it both of the countries’ boundaries were before (they were mainly anthropographic, but North Korea had a physical boundary with China), but now the border dividing the two will be abolished.
This reunification will have very drastic effects on the world as we know it. For starters, the country could potentially become much more powerful because of it’s combined forces. On the other hand, sudden reunification could send the country back into war because of disagreeing sides. This would start the Korean War all over again. Another factor to take in is China. China has had a turbulent history with South Korea, mainly because of their different forms of government (Communist vs. Democratic). In a new Korea, which is expected to be united under Seoul in a democratic government, would be at conflict with China. China is a very large world power, as are both Koreas, so this would affect not only the opposing sides but also the whole world.
