A Study On The Transformation Of Western Europe Separatist Movement

The paper studies the causes,processes and mechanisms of the transformation of separatist movement in Western European from the perspective of local power.The transformation of Western European separatist movement has a specific regional background.On the one hand,after the Cold War,the fear of war made it impossible for Europeans to tolerate violence.The cost of separatism resorting to violence greatly increased for the objection from public opinion and the severe crackdown of the government.At the same time,in the process of European integration,democratic institutions and decentralization reforms have provided a legal path to resolve ethnic conflicts,which prompted the Basque and Northern Ireland separatist groups to renounce violence and to enter the country's Legitimacy construction finally.On the other hand,with the spread of legal norms,the status of international law and the national constitution has not allowed to been challenged.The separatism in Western European also began to adjust its strategy in line with the current situation,which tried to find a favorable rhetoric for splitting targets from the "referendum law" in International Law and National Constitution as a basis of de jure independence.In the process that from the general decline of violent separatism in Western Europe to the brewing and rise of referendum separatism,the incremental adjustment of local power has become a key variable in this transformation.The decentralization reform has pushed local separatist forces to abandon violence.However,the local elites who have mastered power build ethnic political parties and local governments,that promotes the organizational degree and public support of separatism to be further enhanced and expanded.In the political competition of the political party system,ethnic political parties as spokespersons of specific ethnic groups,often rely ethnic identity and use various characteristics,appeals,dissatisfaction about historical,political,economic,and cultural as their mobilizing resources for implementing identity politics.In the end,members of the community who are instigated by ethnicparties participated in the mobilization process from “building consensus” to “taking action ” and from autonomous appeals to independent demands.The Western European Referendum separatism not only caused the crisis of the legitimacy of the country,but also attempted to subvert the national state system and deteriorated the international anti-secession environment.For this reason,it is necessary to attach more importance to the referendum separatism and actively govern it.From a macro level,we must adhere to the law to safeguard national unity,uphold the principle of supremacy of state sovereignty,firm the determination to safeguard the country,rely on international forces to suppress separatism and set an insurmountable barrier for referendum separatism.At the micro level,the state should focus on curbing and combating the mobilization paths of referendum separatism,such as mobilizing resources,mobilizing means,and mobilizing processes.