The votes from last week’s mostly peaceful referendum are now
being counted. Early results indicate that Sudan—Africa’s
largest country—will soon split in two. Some countries (such as
Iran) have reluctantly accepted the likely outcome, while
simultaneously criticizing the idea of self-determination. At
the same time, some American commentators such as Daniel Larison
have criticized America’s role in supporting southern Sudan’s
independence as “folly”. Although the international legal
concept of national self-determination is a rather recent one
(emerging as an international doctrine after WWII in order to
facilitate decolonization), the deeper concept of republican
self-government and America’s role in supporting it around the
world is as old as the United States itself. The southern
Sudanese people are ultimately responsible for their own
destiny, and should be focused not only on protecting human
rights during the transition, but also on providing for human
nature in the new nation’s institutions of governm