I have been advocating (without success) forms of con-federation that allow for large local autonomy while not creating separate States.
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| OSCE SMM monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine (Photo: Courtesy of WikiCommons) |
Source/Credit: Author
By Rene Wadlow | May 12, 2017
11 May marks the anniversary of the referendum of the citizens in Eastern Ukraine to create the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in 2014. For the government of Ukraine these are not republics but “occupied territories” – the occupant being Russia. The term “Phantom Republic” was coined to designate Abkhazia and South Ossetia once part of Georgia and Transnistria once part of Moldova. Some would add Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh, torn between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria are officially linked in the Community for Democracy and Human Rights of which one hears little. All these Phantom Republics are the result of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the failure of Georgia, Moldova and now Ukraine to develop adequate constitutional structures of decentralization or con-federalism which take into consideration cultural, ethnic and economic realities.
The phantom republics are places that field military forces, hold occasional elections, try to develop a local economy but inhabit a netherworld of de facto existence without international legitimacy. There is a tendency among many governments to discourage “separatist” movements since many States have areas that might wish to create independent States – thus the reluctance of many European governments – led by Spain – to recognize Kosovo (or Kosova depending on who is writing).
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