Autonomy

Kurdish demands for autonomy or independence challenged Saddam’s control over Iraqi territory.

Proposals for Palestinian autonomy also raised difficult questions about the territories’ future.

Nevertheless, enforcing continued membership limited allied autonomy, meaning their ability to govern themselves independently. A city that could not freely leave the alliance was not an equal partner, even if it retained some control over its own affairs.

The Seventeen-Point Agreement of May 1951 promised that Tibet could retain autonomy and that the Dalai Lama's status and powers would remain unchanged. Tibet surrendered control of its foreign relations to China. Autonomy meant a degree of internal self-government, not independence.