Politics Redesigning the borders of Europe and the Middle East

[Coriolan]

I was wondering what Europe would look like if the various separatist movements had their way. I checked the list of active separatist movements in Europe and selected only the regions with reasonable claims of independence based on the percentage of population supporting independence. This is what a new Europe, the Maghreb and the Near East would look like if each ethnic and cultural group could create new states of their own. The Caucasus region is particularly fragmented.

Two regions that were difficult to draw were Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Northern Ireland, roughly half of the population is Catholic and wishes to join the Republic of Ireland. The other half is Protestant of Scottish origin and wants to remain with the United Kingdom. Bosnia is a mess. There are enclaves of Serbs and Croats everywhere. I tried to redraw the border along the ethnic lines.

Some regions don't become independent but join each others to form a larger country. For example: Albania and Kosovo, or Romania and Moldova (without Gagauzia and Transnistria that are ethnically distinct).

Some regions are created from two or three regions cut out from other countries. French and Spanish Basques join up to make an independent Basque Country.

In Italy, Padania and Sardinia have long wanted their independence. I wasn't sure if Piedmont really fitted within Padania, so I recreated an historical Piedmont (Italian Alps Confederation) with Savoy and Nice, which were ceded to France in 1860.

Hungary extends its borders by taking the territories with a majority of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia and Romania.

Azerbaijan extends its borders to take all ethnic Azeri regions in Iran and Armenia.

Kurdistan is created from Kurdish territories in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Other parts of Syria and Iraq were redraw based on religious affiliations and historical borders. The Druze, with their unique religion, have their own country, which I called Druzia (Druzistan didn't sound right as it's not Iranian nor Turkic).

 

[Pax Augusta]

For Italy, it is a bit more complicated than that map, and the proposals have been different over time, and they have ranged from separatism to federalism, with the borders changing a lot over time, the proposals generally always led by the Northern League, which has changed its position and even its name several times. So much so that nowadays the League no longer talks about separatism, less and less about federalism, and in fact has become a kind of nationalist party on the model of the French Front National. In Italy in recent years there has been talk mainly of merging and reduction of the current 20 regions. Federalist and separatist movements have also existed in the rest of Italy. The best known in Sicily and Sardinia. I imagine it is more complicated for other European countries as well. The problem with these maps is that they always have to simplify more than what the reality is.


These are some maps taken from Limes, an Italian geopolitical magazine that has addressed the issue several times.


Gianfranco Miglio was a political scientist and university professor who for many years was the leading ideologue of the Northern League, of which he was also a member of parliament. Miglio was actually more of a federalist than a separatist. In the map his proposal for a federal Italy based on the Swiss model.

A summary of some proposals over time with the latest in 2002. It may be that Limes has published other maps that I could not find.

 

[torzio]

top map of Italy looks like the EU split...that is Italy split into 4 ..............but they had Spain split into 4 and France split into 5 ...............and Germany into 5 groups as well

This split is still on the cards once the EU get rid of nations

 

[bicicleur 2]

YOU FORGET BELGIUM ... TO BE SPLIT IN 3.

For Scotland, they want to split because of Brexit.
But it is very unsure whether the EU would accept Scotland as a new member state.

The EU is afraid of seperatist movements.

 

[Jovialis]

I don't think this would ever happen, just like the way it wouldn't happen in the US. The reason is economic, because it would create too much risk and volatility in the markets. People will not like to see their retirement cut in half.

YOU FORGET BELGIUM ... TO BE SPLIT IN 3.
For Scotland, they want to split because of Brexit.
But it is very unsure whether the EU would accept Scotland as a new member state.

The EU is afraid of seperatist movements.

Because people are afraid of losing their investments they've worked for.

 

[Jovialis]

For Italy, it is a bit more complicated than that map, and the proposals have been different over time, and they have ranged from separatism to federalism, with the borders changing a lot over time, the proposals generally always led by the Northern League, which has changed its position and even its name several times. So much so that nowadays the League no longer talks about separatism, less and less about federalism, and in fact has become a kind of nationalist party on the model of the French Front National. In Italy in recent years there has been talk mainly of merging and reduction of the current 20 regions. Federalist and separatist movements have also existed in the rest of Italy. The best known in Sicily and Sardinia. I imagine it is more complicated for other European countries as well. The problem with these maps is that they always have to simplify more than what the reality is.


These are some maps taken from Limes, an Italian geopolitical magazine that has addressed the issue several times.


Gianfranco Miglio was a political scientist and university professor who for many years was the leading ideologue of the Northern League, of which he was also a member of parliament. Miglio was actually more of a federalist than a separatist. In the map his proposal for a federal Italy based on the Swiss model.

A summary of some proposals over time with the latest in 2002. It may be that Limes has published other maps that I could not find.

They probably became a national party, because cutting Italy up into pieces would be like shooting themselves in the foot, economically. Reiterating the volatility it would create in the markets.

 

[Coriolan]

top map of Italy looks like the EU split...that is Italy split into 4 ..............but they had Spain split into 4 and France split into 5 ...............and Germany into 5 groups as well

This split is still on the cards once the EU get rid of nations

The purpose is not to get rid of nations, but to create nations that are more culturally homogeneous, and above all that respect the wishes of the local populations. I agree that France or Germany could be split in more parts based on historical divisions, but there is no desire among the French or German to do that. Even people in Brittany and Alsace don't want to be independent. Only Corsicans and Basques people do. In Germany only Bavaria has a substantial separatist movement.

 

[Jovialis]

More culturally homogeneous? Would that entail also ending all immigration? Or are these just going to be smaller states that attract millions of immigrants from the 3rd world?

I don't see the point in splitting up countries on the basis of being more "culturally homogenous" unless you are going to close them off from immigration. Otherwise, what is the difference if it is a larger state that attracts immigrants to the point of population replacement. However, that comes at a cost too.

To me, much of this will always remain in the realm of fantasy.

Again, what would be the reality of a country being split up into small states, and closing off all immigration to protect "culturally homogenous" sectors?

Once again, Lega Nord became a national party gradually overtime. As much as the south is a "parasite", it would still negatively affect both regions, at least in the short term. (The south obviously a lot more). But at least regarding tourism, the south attracts millions of people each year to places like the Amalfi coast, Pompeii, Matera, etc. So there would be opportunities for the south too, along with foreign investments. Maybe the South of Italy could be like El Salvador, and one outright imprison the mafia en mass. That would be the first step towards a better future.

 

[Maciamo]

Great job! I would have proposed something similar. Not sure about Bavaria leaving Germany to join Austria. It's true that the two regions have many things in common (including their German dialect), but they have never been joined politically, so there is no real shared history.

Italy is very difficult to divide and as Pax Augusta said there is no consensus in Italy about what should be done.

Otherwise I agree with the rest.