| Descript |
427 p |
| Note |
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: A, page: 0361 |
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Adviser: Virginia Page Fortna |
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2008 |
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Reunification cases represent two sovereign states that share a common national identity with a mutual desire to integrate their countries into a single polity. Despite this sentiment for union, some states have failed to integrate, while others have successfully achieved it. The challenge in this analysis is to understand why this variance exists and what causes states to reunify peacefully |
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Peaceful reunification requires cooperation. Although states within reunification dyads often express the desire for political integration, structural, ideological, and international obstacles make this cooperation difficult to accomplish. To comprehend what factors will overcome these impediments, this analysis draws insights from the strategic bargaining, civil war termination and nationalism literature and proposes four necessary conditions required for peaceful reunification. These conditions include: (1) the presence of political-economic engagement between the two states; (2) the existence of a severe political crisis in one state that spills over into the reunification partner state; (3) a willingness by the stronger state to offer a power-sharing arrangement as a crisis management solution for the embattled state; and (4) the support of a credible international power to enforce reunification commitments and defend against potential outside spoilers. To evaluate these factors, this dissertation uses controlled comparison and process tracing to analyze the reunification efforts of four dyads across time East-West Germany, North-South Yemen, North-South Korea, and China-Taiwan |
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This dissertation ultimately aims to challenge three popular explanations for what causes peaceful reunification---ethno-nationalist approach; functionalist/neofunctionalist perspective; and collapsist argument---and offer a dynamic and balanced approach to understand why and how this critical but poorly grasped political event occurs |
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School code: 0054 |
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DDC |
| Host Item |
Dissertation Abstracts International 69-01A
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| Subject |
Political Science, General
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0615
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| Alt Author |
Columbia University
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