The national question, partition and geopolitics in the 21st century: the Cyprus problem, the social question and the politics of reconciliation

Abstract

This paper examines the ‘Cyprus problem’, a protracted modern conflict over a de facto divided island in the eastern Mediterranean, seeking to explore radical potentialities. The paper examines the parameters for resolution set 40 years ago with the agreement to establish a bizonal bicommunal federation. The paper connects the global and regional factors to forces within Cyprus to the dialectic between the forces sustaining division versus those driving towards resolution. It then locates the specific ‘national question’ within a broader reading of geopolitical and social questions in our turbulent times. To appreciate the continuities and ruptures, the ‘Cyprus problem is placed within a frame connecting the old national questions in the imperialist era to current debates over ethnic divisions/conflicts, as they manifest themselves within rekindled social/economic and regional geopolitical contestations. The paper reading the potential for resolution as a transitional process connecting the internal dynamics (nationalism, class, and politics) to imperial/geopolitical ones. This reading provides the analytical lenses to appreciate the potentialities empowering social and political forces within Cyprus. In doing so that we may unlock the social imaginaries to overcome the current divide, as essential elements of vision(s) for social(ist) transformation(s). Focusing on the oldest political and the largest Left-wing force, AKEL, the paper addresses three challenges for the Left: Transcending the compartmentalization of the national question from geopolitics and the social question; enhancing the reunification and reconciliation politics; federating and reconciling from below to push for solution by expanding the ‘third space’ for an anti-nationalist counter-hegemony.