Irredentism Irredentism Ivar Aasen Category="Irredentism"Irredentism is claiming a right to territories belonging to another state on the grounds of common ethnicity and/or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. The word was coined in Italy from the phrase Italia irredenta ("unredeemed Italy"). This originally referred to Austro-Hungarian rule over mostly or partly Italian-inhabited territories in the northern Adriatic such as Trentino and Trieste during the 19th and early 20th century. An area subjected to an irredentist claim is therefore sometimes called an irredenta. A common way to express a claim to adjacent territories on the grounds of historical or ethnic association is by using the epithet "Greater" before the country name, as in Greater Serbia.

Irredentist disputes

Not all territorial disputes are irredentist, although they are often couched in irredentist terms to strengthen public support.

Other prominent irredentist disputes have included:

Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume (now Rijeka) from 1919-1921 - the original irredentist dispute.
The People's Republic of China's claims to the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Matsu, Kinmen, and Orchid Island, collectively ruled by the government of the Republic of China. The Aksai Chin under Chinese control and Arunachal Pradesh under Indian administration are also claimed by PRC as part of Tibet.
Claims among many Mexican nationals & Mexican-Americans that the Southwestern United States(1/2 of Mexico's land) was stolen from Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-American War and should be returned, (see Aztlán)
The Republic of China's claims to Tuva, ruled by Russia; Outer Mongolia, itself the independent state of Mongolia; and Mainland China, ruled by the People's Republic of China.
Chinese nationalist claims to Mongolia and Outer Manchuria
The IRA's claim that British rule in Northern Ireland hinders the prospect of a United Ireland.
French claims before World War I to Alsace-Lorraine.
Weimar Germany's claims after World War I to Alsace-Lorraine, areas of Poland, Lithuania, Austria and the Czech Sudetenland.
West Germany's claims after World War II to former territories beyond the Oder-Neisse line (now in Poland) and to East-Prussia (now the Russian Exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast).
Jewish claims after World War I to territories within the British Mandate of Palestine.
Palestinian claims after division of the land under the British Mandate of Palestine to Israel.
Argentina's claims to the Falkland Islands.
Bolivian claims to coastal regions of Chile annexed after the War of the Pacific.
Pakistani Muslim claims to the Kashmir valley territory, which is divided between Pakistan and India.
Hungarian claims to Felvidék (present-day Slovakia), Transylvania (ruled by Romania), and Croatia, and to portions of Austria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Slovenia.
Serbian claims to large areas of Bosnia and Croatia.
Albanian claims to Kosovo and to parts of Macedonia and Greece.
Finnish inter-war claims that East Karelia had been granted cultural and governmental Autonomy by the Treaty of Tartu, and that that the Soviet Union had violated this autonomy. The Soviet Union annexed all of Finnish Karelia after World War II.
The question of the status of ceded Karelia was revived in Finland after the Cold War.
Iraqi claims to Kuwait before the Gulf War
Morocco's claims, initiated in 1963 by King Hassan II, to a claimed "Greater Morocco" (an area comprising Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, portions of Senegal, the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands, also a Spanish region). This led to a border war with Algeria and the annexation of Western Sahara in 1976.
Greece's claims on areas of the Ottoman Empire after independence, leading to annexation of Thessaly, a failed war against Turkey in 1897 and the Balkan Wars. After World War I Greece claimed what is now the Aegean coastline of Turkey, because of the predominence there of Greek speakers since antiquity and former rule by the Byzantine Empire. Other Greek irredentist claims under the "Greater Greece" policy called Megali Idea included south Albania (North Epirus) and Cyprus.
Japan's Kuril Islands dispute with the former Soviet Union (now Russia), most recently over the loss of the southern four islands in the Kuril Islands chain in the closing days of World War II under the Treaty of San Francisco. The Ainu, a people indigenous to Japan, have inhabited the islands for thousands of years until recent years when ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians began to settle there and displace them.

"Triadic nexus" of irredenta conflict

In his 1996 book, Nationalism Reframed, Rogers Brubaker outlined a pattern to describe a common theme of irredentist conflict, referred to as the "triadic nexus".

Irredenta conflict is a conflict between three parties: a nationalizing state, a national movement representing an ethnic minority within that state, and an external national homeland, to which that minority is construed as ethnically belonging. Brubaker's triadic nexus is a visual representation of this, granting each party a corner of the triangle. The implication is that the national minority is caught between the nationalizing state within whose borders it exists, and the external homeland to which it is seen as belonging.

Constitutional irredentism

Some states formalize their irredentist claims by including them in their constitutional documents.

Argentina Part III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the Argentine Nation states that "The Argentine Nation ratifies its legitimate and non-prescribing sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and over the corresponding maritime and insular zones, as they are an integral part of the National territory. The recovery of said territories and the full exercise of sovereignty, respectful of the way of life of their inhabitants and according to the principles of international law, are a permanent and unrelinquished goal of the Argentine people." Section 35 mentions that the Argentine Nation is the modern name of the United Provinces of the River Plata, which included Uruguay as the Province of Montevideo until 1830.

China The preamble to the constitution of the People's Republic of China states "Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People's Republic of China. It is the lofty duty of the entire Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to accomplish the great task of reunifying the motherland."

Irredentist disputes

"Triadic nexus" of irredenta conflict

Constitutional irredentism

See also