Pass or fail, the referendum for the independence of Scotland is being closely monitored by like-minded separatist groups all over the world. Should the Scottish choose to secede from their 411-year union with England, it could set off a domino effect among other, long-simmering independence movements. Should it fail, it brings other those groups from nowhere to somewhere regarding their tactics.

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A map released by the Brussels-based European Free Alliance (EFA) shows that within the borders of the 28-member European Union alone, 37 separate groups are calling for greater self-rule or independence.

While on the whole speculative — not all the calls for statehood are of equal volume — the map neatly demonstrates those nations with a vested interest in the United Kingdom staying whole.

Spain has no less than seven regions, Andalusia, the Basque Country, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Catalonia are itching for increased autonomy or outright independence.

Latvia, with its very large Russian-speaking minority, openly worries of a civil crisis similar to that of Ukraine, whose civil crisis rides on the back of its Russian population. Germany could lose all of Bavaria.

Composed of 40 progressive nationalist, regionalist and autonomist parties from across the European Union, the EFA works to make the idea of a "Europe of the Peoples" a practical reality.

"[It] focuses its activity on the promotion of the right of self-determination of peoples, human, civil and political rights, democracy, internal enlargement, multi-level governance, devolution of powers, cultural and linguistic diversity," the EFA said.

Like most regions, Europe gained its current borders through a gradual process of wars, treaties, assignments, and in some cases, the marriage of one monarch to another. In the case of Scotland, it merged into one polity with England after King James I assumed the English throne left vacant by the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603.

However, unification did not necessarily erase national characters. In 2007, polarization between the Flemish and Walloons plunged Belgium, existing since 1830, in a state of war where there was effectively no government for 194 days. The same happened again after the 2010 elections, and was only resolved after 540 days later.

In March of this year, a private poll found 89 percent of Venetians wanted to separate from Italy. Part of Italy since 1866, the Veneto, angry with high taxes and bureaucratic bumbling in Rome, began calling for independence a decade ago.

"'The Venetian people realized that we are a nation [worthy of] self-rule and openly oppressed," said Paolo Bernardini, professor of European history at the University of Insubria in Como.

Bernardini added it was "high time" for the Veneto to become an autonomous state again.

Not all regions on the map seek independence. While the EFA qualifies Moravia, currently a part of the Czech Republic, as restive, the community does not seek independence, only a greater role in how it is governed from Prague.

"We're not anti-Czech. We aren't chauvinists, and we aren't separatists," says Ivan Drimal, former chairman of the Moravian National Party. "We aren't trying to make Moravia an independent state."

Scotland votes on independence today.

TagsScottish independence, Europe, European Free Alliance, Scotland