Territoriality, Asymmetry, and Autonomy

Comparative Subnational Foreign Relations Law in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions

“…Beijing pre-empted Lisbon's plan to bestow associate observer status on Macau in the Comunidade de Paises de Lingua Portuguesa, founded only in 1996. 96 Nonetheless, the years following the reversion in 1999 have witnessed an aggressive restoration, by China and the Macau government, of the Region's Portuguese and colonial identity, for obvious political and economic reasons; 97 which is associated with China's renewed drive to deepen diplomatic relations with Europe, Africa and Latin America as an important alternative to its complex bilateral relationship with the United States. 98 The Macau Forum, largely a by-product of the friendly relations between Lisbon and Beijing (in contrast to the bitter Sino-British negotiations), continues to confer on the Region the role of a special platform for bridging China and the lusophone world.…”

État(-nation), citoyenneté et contingence

“…L'État territorial, entendu comme un ensemble institutionnel et juridique s'appliquant uniformément à un peuple souverain territorialement circonscrit, représente dans ces circonstances l'idéal à partir duquel sont entendues et jugées les revendications d'autonomie et celles ayant pour objet « la reconnaissance ». Ces démarches pourtant récurrentes apparaissent alors comme exigeant un traitement différencié et exceptionnel par rapport aux standards modernes du politique (Henders, 2010). Elles peuvent être accommodées sous la règle générale, mais ne semblent pas pouvoir la contester de manière décisive ni forcer véritablement sa remise en cause.…”

Autonomism and Federalism

“…Such territories have commonly required a ''degree of self-government and representation in the central institutions different from the full-fledged member states, thus involving considerable asymmetry'' (Watts 1999). Such territories may be granted a special status arrangement that may exhibit horizontal, vertical, or symbolic asymmetry (Henders 2010).…”

“…Moreover, although interest in asymmetry originally arose out of the examination of asymmetrical relations within federations (Tarlton 1965), asymmetry is also observable in the broader genus of ''federal political systems.'' Actually existing autonomies are typically exemplars of de jure asymmetric arrangements, and they may be full-fledged constituent units of a federal political system (e.g., Catalonia), or may be peripheral units of a federal system (e.g., Puerto Rico), or may be special status arrangements within a unitary state (e.g., Corsica) (Cordell and Wolff 2004;Henders 2010;Légaré and Suksi 2008). Autonomism is by definition asymmetrical, and the question of negotiating and sustaining asymmetry is fundamental to the design and operation of autonomy (Benedikter 2007;Ghai 2000).…”

“…Autonomism does not seek independence-at least for the medium-to shortterm-but seeks to promote the self-government, self administration, and cultural identity of a territorial unit populated by a society with national characteristics (Henders 2010). Autonomism is clearly distinguishable from independentism.…”