Acceptance As A Factor in The Choice between Integration, Autonomy And Secession.

B401_271006.
ACCEPTANCE AS A FACTOR IN THE CHOICE BETWEEN INTEGRATION, AUTONOMY
AND SECESSION.

One major factor in considering communal identity and the possibility of secession from a state, (whether federal or not) is that of acceptance.
Emotions and conditioning clearly play a large part, just as they do in the evolution of nationalism , but what makes acceptance so difficult to specify
or define is that it is a flexible term, with a variety of meanings and usages.
An individual or a community may lose a particular claim in a dispute, for
instance, and feel obliged reluctantly to accept the situation; that is at
one extreme. At the other end of the scale, acceptance may mean noting the
existence of a certain state of affairs and having no wish to change it in
any way; quite possibly the situation concerned,though not of itself rousing
feelings either of contentment or disapproval,may be associated with other
matters which are attractive or desirable. In political terms, the normal way
of expressing opinions in a democracy is by casting a vote, so the aim of a campaigner is somehow to maximize the vote in favour of his cause. If voters
can be induced or persuaded to vote in a certain way, that vote may be cast by
either a fervent supporter or else by a person who simply accepts a particular situation or policy, even though he or she has no strong feelings on that
specific matter. The vote, whether cast by a fervent supporter or a person
who is virtually neutral, has the same value in an election or referendum
as a vote cast by an avid partisan. Logically, therefore it is sensible to
seek the votes of acceptors, just as much as those of militant supporters.

In the early 1960’s an Englishman, visiting Northern Ireland, raised with
a friend,who was an Ulster Unionist,the fact,that a large number of native
Irish Roman Catholics appeared to accept Partition , only to be told that
acceptance was not the same as support. That is clearly true,but,in practical
terms,the votes of acceptors count just as much as those of supporters - and
they may well be more numerous. As politics has been described as “the art of
the possible,” the ballots of acceptors may well prove crucial in some
contests. Politicians by their very nature are concerned to gauge what
citizens and electors are thinking, even though they may often be mistaken,
so they devote a good deal of time to the arts of presentation and persuasion.
If members of a federal state can persuade members of a distinct community,
who differ from the majority in some way (such as ethnicity, language,
religion, culture or social features),to join with those of a different
character or hue for common concerns or purposes, that does not require great partisanship; it simply requires acceptance.Seeking acceptance can be,
and often is, an uneven, seemingly capricious, process, and it is wholly
pragmatic; it is without doubt important, especially in federalism.
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1
A remark, made to the writer in the early 1960’s, distinguishing between acceptance and support.



2 The aphorism of Lord Butler.