The idea of autonomy or other forms of sovereign devolution has been proposed as a viable compromise model in the resolution of claims to separatism. This chapter will consider the meaning and method of application of autonomy or other sub-state political models, and assess whether a semi-independent status can adequately address separatist claims. It will consider the formation of post-colonial states, the failure of many such states to adequately represent ethnic minorities, and the so-called third wave of nationalism in which national or proto-national groupings seek territorial sovereignty. The chapter draws on case studies from Indonesia's Aceh and Papua provinces, Sri Lanka's Eelam and the Philippines’ Bangsamoro, and the failure of the autonomy option in East Timor.

The idea of autonomy has been available to sub-state entities since before the period of Westphalian states, and can be seen as having its origins in the allocation of devolved local rule in empires, or points of local political organization within a wider and overarching political constellation. In the post-Westphalian world of sovereign states, autonomy has generally been allowed to accommodate sub-national or ethnically distinct geopolitical entities that, for strategic reasons, have been obliged to accept incorporation into larger states. That is to say, the idea of autonomy is neither new nor novel, and has been accepted as a viable method of securing regional strategic interests while at the same time encouraging state loyalty via a degree of political “looseness” on one hand while confirming a rationale for state cohesion on the other.

Where a state has been established without due regard for internally differentiated constituent parts, as in the case of many unitary and centrally administered post-colonial states, a devolution of centralized state authority to a variety of sub-state models may be undertaken through a process of mediation. Such mediation applies to both the process by which such a devolved sub-state outcome is achieved, and to the outcome which locates the devolved sub-state entity between the polarities of absolute self-determination and absolute state sovereignty. This mediated compromise, usually around autonomy or a similar form of local self-government, has been proposed as a viable model for the resolution of claims to separatism, sometimes in its own right and sometimes as a step along the path to full independence.