De facto states result from strong secessionist bids and the unwillingness of the international community to condone secession. Whereas international law is strongly on the side of parent states’ claims to restore status quo ante situation, secessionist entities nevertheless carry on their nation-building and state-formation practices. Most of them exist only for the sake of great power rivalry, thus being entirely dependent on security guarantees and economic benefits provided by patron states. They live in the constant threat of being exterminated and forcefully reintegrated to the parent state. Yet these political entities with unclear legal status may desire to be integrated into the global system of communications and flows and have open border regimes with the rest of the world.
This article examines the extent to which de facto states have surrounded themselves with impermeable separation lines, have built fences and limited even the minimal contact with their previous masters in the embryonic stage of their emergent statehood. It questions whether several attampts to regulate these conflicts have intensified cross-border movements between parent states and their secessionist entities or vice versa, brought along self-perpetuating isolation. What factors do explain booming cross-strait relations between Mainland China and Taiwan, transparent Security Zone in Moldova, relative openness of Green Line regulations in Cyprus, highly restrictive Administrative Boundary Lines in Georgia or intact Line of Contact in Azerbaijan?
