Sovereignty in Abkhazia and Somaliland

A question over the right of sovereignty immediately brings up the complex issue of self-determination. Should a given population be given the right to decide for themselves whether should constitute a nation-state? This question in turn boils down to land rights. Does the land belong to the people that inhabit it or the nation-state under whose jurisdiction it rests? Such question come forefront to mind when looking at the current situation in Abkhazia. If one was to take a Lockean viewpoint, one could say that people acquire land through their labor; as such those who actually utilize the land are in direct ownership of it. When they agree to become part of a state they forfeit their right to the land.

However, when a government dissolves, any such compact is broken and the land rights return to the people who inhabit it.These people can either switch their allegiances to another government or form one of their own. Therefore, using this viewpoint, one could argue that the Abkhazian people gain the right of self-determination after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The current Georgian rule is therefore arbitrary. Using this viewpoint, one would argue that a province wide referendum should be made and internationally overseen to let these people decide where their allegiance lies. I personally don’t feel prepared to take a stand on the issue of Abkhazia. It is easy to say from a distance that the local population should be given ultimate self-determination but what if we faced a similar issue. If a sizable portion of Maine’s population hypothetically wanted to secede to Canada should the US allow them self-determination. It is a tricky issue and one that I am not ready to answer.

However, there is another autonomous region in the world that has not been internationally recognized but does not have such tricky philosophical questions attached to it; namely Somaliland. Somaliland is a province is the very north of Somalia that managed to form a government even as the rest of Somalia descended into chaos. Since then it has formed a relatively liberal democracy and maintained a reasonable degree of peace. They are now in a crisis however. Due to lack of international recognition many problems have arisen within the country. Because of a lack of jobs many resort to coal mining, thereby contributing to global warming. Because of a lack of international oversight, there are widespread accounts of election fraud that may endanger this new democracy. Even as we channel million if not billions of dollars of aid that seems to simply disappear to the failed state of Somalia, we refuse to even acknowledge the functioning democracy right above it. At present, Somaliland is functioning as a sovereign state. All it needs is the international recognition of this fact to help it prosper.