Der neue Preis der Staatlichkeit: Trump ist ein gemischter Segen für die Separatisten der Welt

[SS from essay by Ryan D. Griffiths, Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University and the author of The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won’t Work; and Seva Gunitsky, George Ignatieff Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.]

Statehood is a precious commodity. After a burst of creation following the Soviet Union’s collapse, only three new countries have been recognized in the last 30 years—East Timor, in 2002, Montenegro, in 2006, and South Sudan, in 2011. There have been plenty of other attempts in that interval. But most have been stymied by the principle of territorial integrity, which prioritizes fixed borders even in cases of state failure and makes the path to legal independence long and uncertain.

But in the last few years, this norm has grown weaker. In February 2022, Russia launched an [invasion of Ukraine](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/tags/war-ukraine) designed to wipe the country off the map. Initially met with shock and horror, the idea of the Russian conquest of Ukraine has since been normalized by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called for letting Moscow keep some of this land. Trump has also threatened to annex Canada, as well as Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark. Just how serious he is remains to be seen. But the upshot is clear: the United States, the most powerful country in the world, no longer views territorial integrity as an important element of the global order.