View source for Independence

{{Short description|Condition of a nation with self-governance}}
{{Distinguish|Systems theory{{!}}Interdependence}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}

[[File:Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|The [[Thirteen Colonies|Thirteen British Colonies]] on the east coast of North America issued a [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] in 1776]]
[[File:JuraIndependencia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0| Chile, one of several [[Spanish Empire|Spanish territories in South America]], issued a [[Chilean Declaration of Independence|Declaration of independence]] in 1818]] [[File:François-René Moreaux – Proclamação da Independência (1844).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|[[Pedro I of Brazil|Prince Pedro]] surrounded by a crowd in [[São Paulo]] after breaking the news of [[Independence of Brazil|Brazil's independence]] on 7 September 1822.]]
[[File:Senate1917.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|The [[Senate of Finland|Finnish Senate]] of 1917, Prime Minister [[P. E. Svinhufvud]] in the head of table. The Senate declared [[Independence of Finland|Finland independent]] on 4 December 1917, and it was confirmed by [[Finnish parliament|parliament]] 6 December 1917<ref>{{cite book|author=Osmo Jussila – Seppo Hentilä – Jukka Nevakivi|title=From Grand Duchy to a Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809|location=London|publisher=C. Hurst & Co|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/fromgrandduchyto0000juss/page/103 103]|isbn=0-8093-9112-0|url=https://archive.org/details/fromgrandduchyto0000juss/page/103}}</ref> which became the [[Independence Day (Finland)|Independence Day of Finland]].]]

'''Independence''' is a condition of a [[nation]], [[country]], or [[Sovereign state|state]], in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise [[self-government]], and usually [[sovereignty]], over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a [[dependent territory]] or [[colony]]. The commemoration of the independence day of a country or nation celebrates when a country is free from all forms of [[colonialism]]; free to build a country or nation without any interference from other nations.

== Definition ==
Whether the attainment of independence is different from [[revolution]] has long been contested, and has often been debated over the question of violence as [[Legitimacy (family law)|legitimate]] means to achieving sovereignty.<ref>{{cite book|last=Benjamin|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Benjamin|title=Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913–1926|orig-year=1921|year=1996|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge |pages=236–252|no-pp=true|isbn=0-674-94585-9}}</ref> In general, revolutions aim only to redistribute power with or without an element of emancipation, such as in [[democratization]] ''within'' a state, which as such may remain unaltered. For example, the [[Mexican Revolution]] (1910) chiefly refers to a multi-factional conflict that eventually led to a [[Constitution of Mexico|new constitution]]; it has rarely been used to refer to the [[Mexican War of Independence|armed struggle]] (1821) against Spain. However, some [[war of independence|wars of independence]] have been described as revolutions, such as the ones in the [[American Revolutionary War|United States]] (1783) and [[Indonesian National Revolution|Indonesia]] (1949), while some revolutions that were specifically about a change in the political structure have resulted in breakaway states. [[Mongolia]] and [[Finland]], for example, gained their independence during the revolutions occurring in [[Xinhai Revolution|China]] (1911) and [[October Revolution|Russia]] (1917) respectively. Causes for a country or province wishing to seek independence are many, but most can be summed up as a feeling of inequality compared to the dominant power. The means can extend from intended peaceful demonstrations as in the case of [[Indian independence movement|India]] (1947), to a [[Wars of national liberation|violent war]] as in the case of [[Algerian War|Algeria]] (1962). In some cases, a country may also have declared independence, but may only be partially recognized by other countries; such as [[Kosovo]] (2008), whose independence [[Serbia]], from which Kosovo has seceded, has [[International recognition of Kosovo|not formally recognized]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Kosovo MPs proclaim independence |publisher=BBC News |date=17 February 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7249034.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The world's newest state |newspaper=The Economist |date=21 February 2008|url= http://www.economist.com/node/10727947}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mfa-ks.net/en/politika/483/njohjet-ndrkombtare-t-republiks-s-kosovs/483|title=International recognitions of the Republic of Kosovo|publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kosovo)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]|accessdate=6 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515153650/https://www.mfa-ks.net/en/politika/483/njohjet-ndrkombtare-t-republiks-s-kosovs/483|archive-date=15 May 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Distinction between independence and autonomy ===
{{Main|Autonomy}}
''[[Autonomous entity|Autonomy]]'' refers to a kind of independence which has been granted by an overseeing [[authority]] that itself still retains ultimate authority over that territory (see [[Devolution]]). A [[protectorate]] refers to an autonomous region that depends upon a larger government for its protection as an autonomous region.

== Right to independence ==
{{Main|Secession#Right to secession|Sovereign state|Decolonization}}

During the 20th century wave of [[decolonization]] colonies gained rights to independence through documents such as the 1960 [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]], but this right remained mostly applicable only to unfree territorial entities, such as colonies.<ref name="The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination 1918">{{cite web | title=Legal Aspects of Self-Determination | website=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination | date=1918-02-11 | url=https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/511 | access-date=2022-03-31}}</ref>
How much these rights apply to all people has been a crucial point of discussion. The rights to [[nationality]] and [[self-determination]] allow clarification. The right of self-determination allows [[self-governance]], as for example in the case of [[indigenous peoples]], but is not a right of secession, except in extreme cases of oppression as a remedy from the oppression.<ref name="Shrinkhal 2021 pp. 71–82">{{cite journal | last=Shrinkhal | first=Rashwet | title="Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal | journal=AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=17 | issue=1 | year=2021 | issn=1177-1801 | doi=10.1177/1177180121994681 | pages=71–82| s2cid=232264306 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Therefore, the [[Secession#Right to secession|right to secession]] is generally determined by the legislation of [[sovereign state]]s and independence by the capacity to be a state.

== Declarations of independence ==
[[File:Declaration of Estonian independence in Pärnu.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|alt=photograph of crowd during pro-independence demonstration|Public proclamation of the [[Estonian Declaration of Independence]] in [[Pärnu]], [[Estonia]] on 23 February 1918]]
[[File:28nentor.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|230px|[[Ismail Qemali|Ismail Kemal]] at the first anniversary of the [[Assembly of Vlorë]] which proclaimed the [[Independent Albania|independence of Albania]] (28 November 1912)]]
Sometimes, a state wishing to achieve independence from a dominating power will issue a [[declaration of independence]]; the earliest surviving example is [[Scotland]]'s [[Declaration of Arbroath]] in 1320, with the most recent examples being [[Azawad]]'s declaration of independence in 2012 and [[Catalan declaration of independence]] in 2017. Declaring independence and attaining it, however, are quite different. A well-known successful example is the [[Declaration of Independence (United States)|U.S. Declaration of Independence]] issued in 1776. The dates of established independence (or, less commonly, the commencement of revolution), are typically celebrated as a national [[Public holiday|holiday]] known as an [[independence Day]].

== Historical overview ==
Historically, there have been four major periods of declaring independence:
* from the 1770s, beginning with the [[American Revolutionary War]] through the 1830s, when the last royalist bastions fell at the close of the [[Spanish American wars of independence]];
* the immediate aftermath of the [[First World War]] following the breakup of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austro-Hungarian]], [[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[German Empire|German]] empires;
* 1945 to {{Circa|1979}}, when seventy newly independent states emerged from the European [[colonial empire]]s like India, Algeria etc. and the collapse of the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German Reich]] and the [[Empire of Japan]];<ref>[[David Armitage (historian)|David Armitage]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150703022618/http://maghis.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/3/61.full The Declaration of Independence in World Context]'', [[Organization of American Historians]],  ''Magazine of History'', Volume 18, Issue 3, Pp. 61–66 (2004)</ref>
* and the early 1990s, following the breakup of the [[Soviet Union]], [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]].

== Continents ==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
!colspan=2| Continent !!No. !! Most Recent Country to Gain Independence
|-
|rowspan=6|[[File:Continents vide couleurs.png|center|300px]]
| {{legend|#fed52e|Africa}}
| align=center| [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa|54]]
| {{flag|South Sudan}} (2011)
|-
| {{legend striped|#0c0|green|Americas}}
| align=center| [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas|35]]
| {{flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}} (1983){{Cref2|a}}
|-
| {{legend|#f33e01|Asia}}
| align=center| [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia|44]]
| {{flag|East Timor}} (2002)
|-
| {{legend|#c10000|Europe}}
| align=center| [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|50]]{{Cref2|b}}
| {{flag|Montenegro}} (2006) <br/> ''{{Flag|Kosovo}} (2008)''{{Cref2|c}}
|-
| {{legend|#c04080|Oceania}}
| align=center| [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania|14]]
| {{flag|Palau}} (1994){{Cref2|d}}
|-
| {{legend|#0040ff|[[Antarctica]]}}
| align=center| [[Territorial claims in Antarctica|N/A]]
| ''de facto'' [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] international
|}

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
*[[Liberty]]
*[[Autarky]]
*[[Autonomy]]
*[[Domestic sourcing]]
*[[Economic nationalism]]
*[[Energy independence]]
*[[Independence constitution]]
*[[Independence referendum]]
*[[List of national independence days]]
*[[List of sovereign states by date of formation]]
*[[Lists of active separatist movements]]
*[[Real freedom]]
*[[Secession]]
*[[Self Determination]]
*[[Self-sufficiency]]
*[[Special Committee on Decolonization]]
*[[Unilateral declaration of independence]]
*[[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories]]
*[[War of Independence]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Cnote2 Begin}}
{{Cnote2|a|Independence from the United Kingdom.}}
{{Cnote2|b|n=2|Part of [[South Caucasus|Transcaucasian Region]], at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.  [[Physical geography|Physiographically]], Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are mostly in Asia with small portions north of the [[Caucasus Mountains]] divide in Europe.}}
{{Cnote2|c|With [[International recognition of Kosovo|partial diplomatic recognition]].}}
{{Cnote2|d|An independent state in [[Compact of Free Association|free association]] with the United States.}}
{{Cnote2 End}}

== References ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite Q|Q19094713}}<!-- Emancipate your colonies! -->
* {{cite Q|Q100272896}}<!-- Independence: Rectorial address delivered at St Andrews October 10 1923 -->

{{Colonization}}
{{Secession in Countries}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Independence| ]]
[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Sovereignty]]
[[Category:Decolonization]]