Dissolution in politics is when a state, institution, nation, or administrative region dissolves or ceases to exist, usually separating into two or more entities, or being annexed.
It is not to be confused with secession, where a state, institution, nation, or administrative region leaves; nor federalisation where the structure changes but is not dissolved.
[1] The remaining territories inhabited by divided peoples fell into the composition of existing or newly formed states.
The constitution offered hope by freeing the empire's citizens to modernize the state's institutions and dissolve inter-communal tensions.
On the other hand, the Baltic states and the former Eastern Bloc countries joined NATO and the European Union, while Georgia and Ukraine have distanced themselves from Russia and express interest in following the same path.
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was the transatlantic metropolis that controlled the Portuguese colonial empire, with its overseas possessions in Africa and Asia.
In the wake of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Portugal, attempts to compromise the autonomy and even the unity of Brazil, led to the breakdown of the union.
Following some months of tension and fear of war between the neighboring kingdoms (then in personal union) – and a Norwegian plebiscite held on 13 August which overwhelmingly backed dissolution – negotiations between the two governments led to Sweden's recognition of Norway as an independent constitutional monarchy on 26 October 1905.
The dissolution of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was the independence and breaking up of the Spanish colony in South America.
After the Allied victory in World War II, Yugoslavia was set up as a federation of six republics, with borders drawn along ethnic and historical lines: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
Each of the republics had its own branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia party and a ruling elite, and any tensions were solved on the federal level.
After his death in 1980, the weakened system of federal government was left unable to cope with rising economic and political challenges.
In 1987, Slobodan Milošević came to power in Serbia, and through a series of populist moves acquired de facto control over Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro, garnering a high level of support among Serbs for his centralist policies.
Milošević was met with opposition by party leaders of the western republics of Slovenia and Croatia, who also advocated greater democratisation of the country in line with the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe.
During 1990, the socialists (former communists) lost power to ethnic separatist parties in the first multi-party elections held across the country, except in Serbia and Montenegro, where Milošević and his allies won.
After a string of inter-ethnic incidents, the Yugoslav Wars ensued, first in Croatia and then, most severely, in multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[13] Those favouring dissolution claim Iraq is an artificially created state[13] and as a remnant of the regional Ottoman rule[14][15] and British colonial rule; the British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices, furthering sectarian inequalities.
The sectarian issue was particularly evident during the civil war between 2005 and 2009, as intercommunal violence between Iraqi Sunni and Shi'a factions became prevalent.
In February 2006, the Sunni organization Al-Qaeda in Iraq bombed one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam—the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra.
[18] The conflict escalated over the next several months until by 2007, the National Intelligence Estimate described the situation as having elements of a civil war.
[19] In the mid to late 2010s, despite the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant having lost territorial control in the civil war, the insurgency continued.
[23][24][25] With the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, the territorial advance by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has in turn led to renewed calls of various separatist claims due to issues with various sectarian divides, dissolution has been proposed as a solution.
With the impact of Brexit, and strengthening of support for Scottish independence, various scenarios have been mooted regarding the future of the current United Kingdom.