From "Multi-System Nations" to "Linkage Communities": A New Conceptual Scheme for the Integration of Divided Nations

Abstract

Studies of the issues related to the unification of ”divided nations” have focused too heavily on the political and legal sides of the problem. Frequently, analyses have been clouded by concepts of conventional international law such as ”sovereignty” and ”jurisdiction.” Moving beyond the innovative concept of ”multi-system nations” coined by this author in the 1970s, the idea of ”linkage communities” emphasizes the natural process of economic, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges between different parts of a ”divided nation.” The conceptual scheme argues that through continuous interactions in the private sectors, ”linkage communities” will be developed within both sides of a divided nation which in turn will bring about gradual functional integration, f not political unification of a divided state.