Insular Autonomy: A Framework for Conflict Resolution? A Comparative Study of Corsica and the Aland Islands

In: The global review of ethnopolitics, Band 1, Heft 1, S. 19-40

Abstract

The article discusses issues of autonomy in the differing contexts of Corsica & the Aland Islands. There is a detailed exploration of the Aland Crisis that lasted from 1920 through 1922, during which the islands, which are culturally Swedish but legally Finnish, achieved a compromise of autonomy. The development of this autonomy, originally implemented under the League of Nations, is analyzed historically up through the provisions of the 1991 Autonomy Act. The article then turns its attention to the more problematic case of Corsica. After a brief exploration of the Italian & French aspects of Corsican history, the article moves on to an assessment of administrative autonomy from 1982 to 1999. Factors that might influence the success of autonomy are discussed in terms of structural & dispositional variables, including the content & durability of the arrangement, along with modes of establishment, entrenchment, & evolution. Finally, political autonomy is discussed as a mode of conflict settlement. 1 Table, 23 References. R. Young