BRIEFING: Kosovo inspires independence daze

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sean Connery thinks a Scottish nation is a bonnie notion. How about Spain's Basque country becoming a real country? And what's wrong with a People's Republic of Vermont?

Kosovo's declaration of independence last week raises all those questions and more. For starters: Why is statehood OK for some people but frowned on for others? After all, isn't the right to self-determination the essence of democracy itself?

There are at least two dozen secessionist movements active in Europe alone, and scores of others agitating for sovereignty around the globe. All of them, experts warn, will be emboldened by the proclamation of the Republic of Kosovo.

"We live in a world which is based around states," said Florian Bieber, a professor of politics and international relations at Britain's University of Kent.

"The United Nations is based on states. The European Union is based on states," he said. "It's going to continue to happen. New states will emerge, and states will disappear, like East Germany."

But not all independence movements are created equal.

Some are quirky, such as Second Vermont Republic — Thomas Naylor's small but spirited campaign to break off his corner of northern New England and make it a nation.

With his spectacles, bald spot and long white hair, the retired Duke University economics professor looks like Benjamin Franklin and quotes Thomas Jefferson. He believes that if Kosovo can become a country, so can Vermont, which was independent until it joined the Union in 1791 as the 14th state.

Yet Mr. Naylor concedes: "It's a tough sell. This is not kid stuff. Secession is a radical act of rebellion driven by anger and fear."