As many as 97.7 per cent of voters in the Pacific island of Bougainville opted for independence from Papua New Guinea in a referendum held in late November and early December. Fugitive godman Nithyananda has reportedly founded his own country somewhere in the Pacific. Across the world, various territories are agitating for independence - Catalonia in Spain, Kurdistan in Iraq and Tibet in China. New countries are suddenly in high demand.

How does a territory become a new country?

There is no straight-arrow rule. Beyond a few set requirements, a region’s hunt for nationhood mainly depends on how many countries and international organisations it manages to convince to recognise it as a country. The biggest sanction of nationhood is the UN recognising a territory as a country.

There is no law barring regions from declaring independence. Somaliland in Somalia has been calling itself a country since 1991, but no one else recognises it. Kosovo in Serbia declared independence in 2008, and only a few other countries recognise it.

What criteria must a nation-hopeful meet?

* Broadly, four, as decided in the 1933 Montevideo Convention. A country-hopeful must have a defined territory, people, government and the ability to form relationships with other countries.

* A country’s “people” are defined as a significantly large population sharing a belief in their nationality. Factors also kept in mind are if a majority has clearly expressed the desire to break away from the parent country, and if the minority communities’ rights will be safeguarded.

* In June 1945, the right of “self-determination” was included in the UN charter. This means that a population has the right to decide how and by whom it wants to be governed.

* However, another of the oldest, widely accepted international rules is that of countries respecting each other’s territorial integrity. This is conflicting. While a population has the right to break off from the parent country, quick recognition of their claim would mean other nations is agreeing to the carving up of one country.

* The right to self-determination was introduced when a few colonial powers were dominating most countries, and questions of right were relatively easier to settle.

* Today, the issue becomes thorny and shapes up either as granting of greater autonomy to certain regions within a country, prolonged armed conflicts, or both.

* Thus, though Taiwan says it is a country, other nations defer to China’s feelings about it. Last year, Air India changed the name of Taiwan to Chinese Taipei on its website when China “raised concerns”.

Why UN recognition matters?

* UN recognition means a new country has access to the World Bank, the IMF, etc. Its currency is recognised, which allows it to trade.

* Often, UN member states recognise a country, but not the UN as a body. This puts a country in the grey area with respect to protection against the parent country’s aggression and international trade.

* By and large, so far, a country swinging the UN’s opinion in its favour has depended on how many of the big powers back it, and how much international clout its parent country wields at that time.

* East Timor, then a Portuguese colony, was invaded by Indonesia in the 1960s. But the western powers then needed Indonesia as an ally against Russia, and East Timor’s woes didn’t get much attention. By the 1990s, power alignments had changed, and East Timor managed to hold a referendum by 1999 and declare independence in 2002.

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