Abstract

Political partition may usefully be defined as a fresh political border cut through at least one community’s national homeland with the goal of resolving conflict (see Talbot and Singh 2009; applying the approach suggested in O’Leary 2007). Political partition is therefore distinct from adjacent phenomena, such as secessions, which are attempted within existing recognized units (O’Leary 2001: 54, 2005, 2007; the latter article defends this definition), or from border adjustments, such as those that occur after a shift in the course of a river bed, or from a shift in maritime boundaries following the immersion of an island, i.e., where the placements of people are not at stake.