Post-World War One Plebiscites and Their Legacies

Exploring the Right of Self-Determination

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Table of contents
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Plebiscites, or referendums, are epitomes of direct democracy and the right of self-determination. While direct democracy has always been a key subject in the theory and practice of western liberal democracies, the issue of self-determination has been propelled to the fore by the hegemonistic moves of Russia. By providing a historical analysis of the post-World War One plebiscites, this book deals with enduring, painfully contemporary, and in in any case fundamental, concepts.

The contributors to this edited volume approach the referendums comparatively. After grounding the analysis theoretically, the authors look at detailed aspects of individual cases, with the two plebiscites held in the Danish-German border region of Schleswig in the winter of 1920 as points of departure. They then extend the exploration through the inter-war period and address the effects of border delimitations on everyday life or gender roles in the context of ethnic mobilization. Finally, the book places the post-World War One plebiscites in a long-term perspective. The concluding essays assess, among others, the applicability of plebiscitary solutions to contemporary conflicts, taking into consideration issues of borders, religion, language, identity, and minority rights.

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List of Figures and a Tables

Introduction: Between Plebiscites, Difficult History, and Minority Rights
Sergiusz Bober

Part One: The Right to Self-Determination and Plebiscites
Chapter 1. Schleswig Safe for Democracy? A Comparative Perspective on Right-Sizing Referendums
Matt Qvortrup

Chapter 2. Plebiscites and the Difficult Transition to Peace after the First World War
Volker Prott

Part Two: Plebiscites and Minority Rights in the Aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference

Chapter 3. Where is Schleswig? Danish, German, and International Conceptions of the Schleswig Plebiscite
Ryan J. Gesme

Chapter 4. Principles and Politics: Flensburg and Klagenfurt in the Plebiscites of 1920
Peter Thaler

Chapter 5. Visions of Legal and Substantive Citizenship and the League of Nations’ Minority Treaties
Kristin Henrard

Part Three: Post-Plebiscitary Territories as Living Spaces between the Two World Wars

Chapter 6. Fabricating a Border: The Sopron Plebiscite of 1921 and the Delineation of Burgenland
Béla Rásky

Chapter 7. “Here at the Bleeding Eastern Border, One Could See the Injustice”: July 11, 1920, in the Public Conscience and the Regierungspräsidium of Marienwerder until 1939
Harald v. Keudell

Chapter 8. A Gendered View on the Plebiscitary and Post-plebiscitary Carinthian Slovene Minority: Roles and Realities of Women
Tina Bahovec

Part Four: The Post-World War I Plebiscites in the Longue Durée

Chapter 9. Plebiscites, Minorities, and the Right of National Self-determination—Some Lessons from 1920
Martin Klatt

Chapter 10. Militarized Plebiscite? The Legacy of the 1920 Carinthian Plebiscite
Robert Knight

Chapter 11. About Sèvres, Lausanne, the Widow Molla Sali, and the Ineffectual Attempt of Greece to Circumvent the Principles of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Detlev Rein

Concluding Chapter
“Why Not Hold a Plebiscite like in Schleswig?” The Significance of Plebiscites in Solving Nationality and Border Conflicts in Europe since World War I
Jørgen Kühl

List of Contributors
Index

John McGarry, Stephen Gyimah Distinguished University Professor, Queen’s University

“A first-class, comparative and multi-disciplinary examination of the plebiscites that took place in Europe in the aftermath of the First World War. The first collection of its type in English in almost a century, it will be essential reading for anyone interested in how direct democracy has been used to address disputes over self-determination.”

Laurence Morel, Professor of Political Science at the University of Lille, editor of the Routledge Handbook to Referendums and Direct Democracy

“A highly valuable look at history with up-to-date knowledge that helps us to understand the contribution of post-World War I Wilsonian self-determination plebiscites to lasting conflict resolution and minority rights, with a view to assessing the potential of referendums to resolve current territorial disputes, particularly in Europe.”

Xosé M. Núñez Seixas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

“Combining insights from historians, political scientists, and legal experts, Post-World War One Plebiscites and Their Legacies addresses its subject matter from a geographically diverse and scholarly interdisciplinary perspective. In so doing, the volume offers not only specific accounts of the plebiscites in question, but also reflections on the practical dilemmas posed by the implementation of national self-determination as a principle, as well as a detailed study from below of how the concerned populations decided on their own collective identities. This book makes an unique contribution to the field of border studies, nationalism studies, modern European history, and political science.”