Does Self-Determination Lead to Autonomy?

In: Peace review: the international quarterly of world peace, Band 10, Heft 2, S. 209-214

Abstract

The experience of the peoples of Palau & Saipan in Micronesia support this examination of the connection between self-determination & autonomy. The history of the region under various colonial powers & wars in the 19th & 20th centuries is chronicled. Palauans have insisted on freedom from any nuclear activity on their soil, but their compact with the US for its military presence & nuclear weapons has not given them autonomy. Saipan has also suffered from a lack of real autonomy, first because of its sugar industry, & later because of its commonwealth relation with the US. This relation has created an economic boom, but has left the indigenous population outnumbered by Asian labor working for low wages. It is concluded that, in neither case, has self-determination guaranteed autonomy. M. Pflum