Devolution

decide alone issues which affect you exclusively

no constitutional recognition of right to self-determination
autonomy at benevolence of state-wide majority
autonomy as the new gold standard
opposite of this:
No state or region has the right to develop its own governance within the framew
ork of the Constitution, nor does it have the power to elect its Chief Minister.
The citizens of each sub-national entity cannot select the members of its own e
xecutive department. Therefore, the central government is the dominant authority
and the Constitution provides for a complex structure that hides the highly cent
ralized nature of the state and gives no real autonomy to regional communities.

Protection of rights of minorities in autonomous regions, in his proposition jus

tifying international legal support to intrastate autonomy as an alternative to
secession. but background is that the right is remedial only. to protect minorit
ies from discriminations and violations of human rights
Buchanan mentions of a vestigial function of autonomy vis-a-vis secession, wher
e the state functions to control over the way an majority, as the harbinger of c
reation of the autonomous region, treats the minorities within it. (Page 142, Id
entity, Self-Determination and Secession, written by Allen Buchanan, edited by I
gor Primoratz and Aleksandar Pavkovic)

Manycontemporarypeaceprocessesinvolvingethnicconflictandculminatinginsometypeofw
rittenagreementhaveincludedsignificantprovisionforprotectinghumanrightsasacrucia
lelement.Thiswouldsuggestthatmediatorsandpartiestotheconflictfindtheconnectionbe
tweenpeaceandjusticepersuasive.Typically,suchagreementsprovideforthreehumanright
saspects:first,sometypeofself-determinationoftenfallingshortofsecessionorstateho
od,suchasautonomyorpower-sharing;secondly,acollectionofhumanrightsinstitutions bil
lsofrights,constitutionalcourts,humanrightscommissions,equalitycommissions,newpo
liceandcriminaljusticestructures,andmeasuresprovidingforsocialandeconomicequalit
y;andthirdly,mechanismstodealwithpasthumanrightsabuses,suchastruthcommissionsori
nternationaltribunals,whilesimultaneouslyprovidingforprisonerrelease
Self-determination is the idea of a community's right to control its own future,
and thus physically to survive and prosper to the fullest extent possible. A co
mmunity's power of self-determination is perceived as a crucial aspect of its id
entity, and so also, in holistic terms, of its health and survival. When the phr
ase 'self-determination' is a part of a community's political lexicon, it theref
ore becomes a very powerful expression, and carries great hope for the birth of
physical changes in a community's circumstances. http://ejil.org/pdfs/12/1/500.p
df
The MNLF had been formed in 1969 by a group of young secular-educated men who re
jected the traditional aristocratic leaders of Mindanao's Muslims. According to
MNLF leader, Nur Misuari, " our armed struggle today is a jihad for national sal
vation from colonialism" and involved setting up an independent "Bangsa Moro Rep
ublic" (Che Man 1990: 87). Full scale war between the MNLF and government forces
lasted from 1972 until the mid-1970s, resulting in approximately 50,000 deaths
and the displacemet of at least 200,000 people with an additional 140,000 refuge
es in Sabah (May 1992). Other estimates put these figures considerably higher.

Self-determination as non-domination promotes a shift from government to govern

ance-- whereby governance feels less hierarchical form of governing and supports
decentralisatoin and local governance.

Territorial autonomy has been the classical means of settling self-determination

disputes outside the colonial context. It denotes self-governance of a demograph
ically distinct territorial unit within the state. The extent of autonomy grante
d will normally be established in the constitution and/or an autonomy statute. T
his statute will often be legally entrenched as a special or organic law, to ens
ure the permanence of this arrangement. While operating within the overall const
itutional order of the state, autonomy implies original decision-making power in
relation to devolved competences.
Devolution of powers of self-government can occur state-wide, establishing an en
tity which is not quite a federation, but which is nevertheless entirely compose
d of units of regional or local government endowed with signifi cant and equal d
evolved competences. More often, however, devolution takes place in relation to
only certain parts of the territory, resulting in asymmetrical autonomy. That is
to say, the overall state continues to administer itself under an essentially c
entralist state structure, offering special status to one or more entities which
enjoy autonomous or even federal-type competences.

in Kida v. Senate, where the synchronization of ARMM elections with the national
elections was at issue, the decided the case on the premise that the ARMM, alth
ough given special status in the Constitution, remains a local government