2. Devolution’s Effect 2
Devolution is the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by
central government or regional administration. Devolution can be good and has its
advantages like, it makes government more responsible, it facilitates decision making, it
brings the government closer to their people, it also tries to accommodate and manage
social diversity, and it balances economic development throughout the country.
Devolution also has multiple disadvantages like, it can promote ethnicity, lead to
exclusion, compound marginalization of minorities, it can inflate religious and cultural
diversities, and lastly will lead to separation secession. Although devolution can have
advantages and disadvantages so do all things that have to do with politics. Mostly I
think devolution effects diversity and multi- culturalism.
Diversity and multi-culturalism all over the world has led to an increasing
number of countries being challenged by devolutionary forces often resulting in a
decision of whether to stay as a sovereign state or to become a separate entity. From
my examples found in Europe and the Middle East, I know the separation may not
always be peaceful, and when examining the cases in Europe and the Middle East I
have found that the world’s nations are becoming more divided when it comes to
diversity, and more united when it comes to helping and supporting other ethnic groups
in society when terror is keeping them away from their home.
The devolution of former Yugoslavia was caused by multiple centrifugal forces
gaining strength after Tito’s death. The centrifugal forces included: inflation, sharp rise
of unemployment, foreign debt climbed to over $20 billion, and ethnic unrest spread.
Most of the population was a part of one of six Slavic groups: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes,
Bosnian Muslims, Macedonians, and Montenegrins. Though the Slavic groups speak a
common language the cultural and religious differences, have been dividing the groups
for years.
In 1980 the groups within the country began fighting for more independence,
and when the 1990s came around, Yugoslavia separated into five independent
countries after over 250,000 people were killed. Yugoslavia then became Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and lastly Slovenia. In this
case the separation process of becoming separate entities were not peaceful. In this
case the impact of refugee displacement was that over 80 percent of Bosnia-
Hercegovina had been occupied by Serb and Croat forces, with most of this territory
under control of the Serbians. Many of the displaced had fled to Hungary, Austria,
Slovenia, or Germany. Which had quite an impact on Bosnia-Hercegovina and the rest
of Eastern Europe. The separation process clearly caused strain on multi-culturalism
(the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society) in Eastern
Europe.
3. Devolution’s Effect 3
Diversity is defined as the inclusion of individuals representing more than one
national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation, etc. Which is
why I do not believe that diversity is the best path for former Yugoslavia because it
would not have kept the countries together. It could not have kept the countries together
because there was already too many ethnicities and different ethnic backgrounds that
caused arguments, which led to the devolution in the first place. Assimilation is defined
as the process by which a person or group’s language and/or culture come to resemble
those of another group. Knowing this I believe that assimilation is the reason that some
of the republics within Yugoslavia stayed together however I believe it may have kept
Yugoslavia together if the different ethnicities could have come to resemble those of
another group I know that there were too many differences between these ethnic
backgrounds that kept assimilation from happening. This is a good example of how the
world’s nations are becoming more divided, because of diversity, people in society do
not always see people as their equals and create great divisions between national
ethnic groups.
In the Middle East, Syria is one of the hottest topics recently, because of the
mixed society, destruction, displaced refugees, destruction, and no trust of any
reconciliation or recovery. Devolution in Syria has been caused by the invasion of ISIS
and the Syrian government will never be able to re-establish pre-crisis conditions. The
devolution was necessary considering that the government failed to protect the citizens
of Syria and communities then armed their own local committees to defend them. This
makes it unlikely for change in Syria or hopes of stopping devolution, due to the fact that
traumatized communities are not likely to trust their fate to a government again with or
without Assad.
Syria is an extremely diverse society and the country has amalgam of sectarian,
religious, ethnic and tribal communities. Syria needs a solution to support the World’s
national concern with genocide fights and put Syria on the good path to devolution of
power. They could do this by reform politically speaking that allows autonomy without
risking territorial integrity of their country or a collapse of the state. Assad could be dealt
with after a regional government is put in place and a new state constitution is put in
place. This will offer a degree of independent ruling to Syria’s minorities. Overall I
believe that a slow devolution of power in Syria is the only way to achieve peace.
With the diversity in Syria I believe that it is important not to force assimilation on
to Syria when they are recovering from such a big crisis and their focus should be
reuniting their country as a whole and reestablishing government and if need be
4. Devolution’s Effect 4
separate entities within Syria. I think a combination of diversity and assimilation could
be used. I believe there must be accepting of diversity and a welcome to those who try
to assimilate to the culture and/or ethnicity of Syria. I know that the large displacement
of refugees will be hard on Syria at first but hopefully the refugees will return. The fear
with these refugees is that they will not return to Syria due to fear of another crisis in
their unstable country.
However, it is not fair to expect other European or Middle Eastern countries to
accept how diverse Syrians are from them. It may be hard for the Syrians to assimilate
to European culture or even American culture due to the large differences in culture and
ethnic backgrounds. Syria has been another example of how the world’s nations are
divided by diversity and multi-culturalism, because the difference in culture and ethnicity
possibly even religion caused strife in their nation to begin with. Diversity has been a
wedge between people all over the world for years and that is why I see more division in
the world’s nations today due to diversity.
“Despite its apparent enthusiasm, the Labour UK government in office between
1997 and 2010 made only limited use of the referendum – in Scotland and Wales for
devolution in 1997, in the North East of England for regional government in 2004, and in
various localities for having elected mayors.” The first referendum was in March 2011 by
Wales, this approved more law-making powers of the National Assembly for Wales by
nearly two to one. Following that was a referendum for Scottish independence in
September 2014 and then another for the European Union which was proposed by the
Conservatives. Scottish independence attracted conservatives because it was a chance
for conservatives to hold power at Westminster.
However, a United Kingdom without the European Union without Scotland would
put the United Kingdom more of the peer to Poland and Spain population wise instead
of France or Italy. There are many possible ramifications when it comes to the
European Union referendum. This future separation will most likely be peaceful and I
believe that assimilation would be the best path for the nations and since in this
situation there is no fighting there will not be an impact by refugee displacement.
However, there will then be and impact of immigration because then when traveling
Scotland is a completely independent country then which comes with many
responsibilities as a nation. Currently, I do not know if Scotland is ready for this type of
independence from the United Kingdom, but I do not think the United Kingdom is ready
either for Scotland to gain independence and to leave the European Union. The
population of the United Kingdom would diminish so greatly they may actually lose their
status as a super power across the world.
5. Devolution’s Effect 5
The next example is of devolution in Kenya, which has been supported greatly by
the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has supported the devolution because they
believe it would hold great promise for Kenyans. Of course with any devolution there are
advantages and disadvantages, but I believe the advantages outweigh the
disadvantages. Advantageously the government would be closer to its people and that
can only be achieved if county governments become stronger and can handle
resources and engage citizens to create a devolution. More importantly the devolution
will provide training in priority areas that will focus on long-term investments to
institutionalize training. Also the United Kingdom will provide great support the Kenyan
government and do reports annually to check the status of the devolution and the
United Kingdom will also work with the local governments to handle natural resources
and the revenue of the country. This is a good example of devolution being
advantageous to Kenya. With the support of the United Kingdom I do not think there is
any way that the devolution plan will not succeed. This is also a great example of the
world’s nations becoming more united by helping each other to reach a mutual goal and
to better the country as a whole.
Based on my findings, nations will be melting pots and the world will be a mosaic.
I have found that nations will be melting pots because nations will come together,
nations will find a way around diversity and overcome obstacles of diversity. Whereas
the world is a mosaic, the world can melt and come together when necessary for the
survival of the whole, but when it’s all over the world is a mosaic because the world is
separated by diversity and multi-culturalism. The world as a whole will never be able to
completely live in peace, it’s too much for the world to see past the world cannot see
past the division of the country that has been caused by diversity and these are the
things that make the world a mosaic. Our inability as a society to overcome diversity
and be a melting pot to accept and come together the differences of our world’s nations,
will never happen. It cannot happen because the diversity is too much to overcome.
However in countries like the United States, a melting pot is possible. Yes, it is difficult
for the melting pot to always be perfect but we make it work and we have made it
possible for the melting pot to work in our favor. So I believe nations can be melting pots
but the world is a mosaic.
Looking at all these great examples of devolution, I have come to the conclusion
that in some ways the world’s nations are becoming more divided and in some more
united. I think they are becoming more united because of wars happening in the Middle
East that are uniting countries against a common enemy. However I also believe that
there has been a wedge between the world’s nations because of diversity and multi-
culturalism, and I think that no matter how hard we try to see past that wedge and
6. Devolution’s Effect 6
overcome it there is always ethnic and culture bias, background, stereotype or
discomfort in the way. In our society it is nearly impossible to not hear about racial or
ethnic issues daily. It seems as if there is always racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, sexual
orientation, socioeconomic stratum, or national origin in the way. For example, in
society I think people of my age will always stereotype and fear Middle Eastern people. I
know this will happen because we are all old enough to remember 9/11, we are now old
enough to recall in detail what has been happening in Syria and also what most recently
happened in Paris. So people at my age will always be afraid of Islamic terrorists and
Islamic people in general not because we are racist but because of the culture and
society we grew up in. Just like how people in society that grew up during World War II
were afraid of Asians or Japanese Americans even. They were even to the point that
some people of that age hate Asians, and it has nothing to do with racism but it has
everything to do with when and how they grew up. So I do not think we will ever get past
the large gap that diversity and multi-culturalism has created, and it’s all because of the
background our society has with that ethnic group or with that culture.
7. Devolution’s Effect 7
References
Advantages and Disadvantages of Devolution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2015,
from https://www.kenyaplex.com/resources/9262-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
devolution.aspx
Devolution of Power in Syria Will Not Be Attained by Assad's Ouster. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 8, 2015, from http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/09/devolution-of-power-in-syria-
will-not-be-attained-by-assads-ouster/
Do You Know the History of the Former Yugoslavia? (n.d.). Retrieved November 10,
2015, from http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/fmryugoslavia.htm
Scotland and Europe: A tale of two referendums. (2013, September 12). Retrieved
November 1, 2015, from https://devolutionmatters.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/scotland-
and-europe-a-tale-of-two-referendums/
Teaching about Conflict and Crisis in the Former Yugoslavia: The Case of Bosnia-
Hercegovina. ERIC Digest. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2015, from
http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/bosnia.htm
The Devolution of the Syrian Revolution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2015, from
http://www.marcgopin.com/2013/05/28/the-devolution-of-the-syrian-revolution/
UK Government increases support to Devolution Programme in Kenya. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 8, 2015, from http://www.modernghana.com/news/656672/1/uk-government-
increases-support-to-devolution-prog.html
