Abstract
Despite the centuries-long practice and the general meaning of interruption of certain continuity, still, it is difficult to understand the political phenomenon of secession and to find an acceptable definition. Various authors provide numerous suggestions, but in most of the cases, the definitions of secession do not contain sufficiently comprehensive elements (or at least sufficiently clear elements). There are many attempts to explain secession and, as an outcome, the vast theory in that regard. Additionally, there are a variety of approaches that tend to elaborate on the causes of secession. Multiple divisions of secessionist activities depend on their complexity, the consequences they produce, the acts on which they are based, the degree of violence that occurs in conflicts, and the like. In general, secession is a political movement that addresses a targeted population in a particular territory wishing to become a new independent state. Peaceful secessions seem to be similar, but each of the violent secessions is a separate case, making it difficult to put it under a common denominator—although the circumstances and actions of the parties leading to violence are almost always the same.
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Notes
- 1.
Borkowski and Plessis (2005).
- 2.
Dahliz (2003), p. 6.
- 3.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007), p. 5.
- 4.
Heraclides (1991).
- 5.
Brilmayer (1991).
- 6.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 7.
- 8.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 9.
Wood (1981), pp. 109–135.
- 10.
- 11.
Horowitz (2003).
- 12.
Hechter (1992).
- 13.
Bookman (1992).
- 14.
Collier and Hoeffler (2005).
- 15.
Buchanan (1991).
- 16.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 17.
For Murray N. Rothbard, the creator of this theory, boundaries are often unjust and need not be maintained at all costs. Every group and every nationality should be allowed to secede and join another nation-state. That would increase the number of new nations, but the larger their number and the smaller their size, the better. Rothbard (1994).
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
Buchanan (1991).
- 21.
Avishai and Raz (1990).
- 22.
Such a variant proposes Harry Beran, according to which, the group has the right to secede if (1) it represents a significant majority in the state that wants to secede and (2) if it can manage resources in order to achieve sustainability of the new state, Beran (1991).
- 23.
According to Christopher Willman, this right belongs to any group that (1) is a majority in a certain territory (2) the state that will be formed will have the capacity to perform state functions (3) if this will not prevent the parent state from continuing to perform its state functions, Wellman (1995).
- 24.
According to these theories, there may be a special right of secession if: (1) the state guarantees the right to secession (as in the case of Norway from Sweden in 1905) or (2) if the country’s constitution includes the right to secession (such as the Ethiopian Constitution from 1993) or perhaps (3) the agreement that the state was created by previously independent political entities included an implicit or explicit assumption that secession would later be allowed (as some US states have argued).
- 25.
- 26.
For Buchanan, these theories do not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate states. According to the guidelines of international law, states are illegitimate if they commit ethnic or religious discrimination, physical harassment, and institutional racism and deny access to economic and political rights, Buchanan (1991).
- 27.
Miller (1995).
- 28.
Beran (1984).
- 29.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 30.
Many theorists oppose this because there may be reasons for secession without the ability to animate as many percentages as necessary for secession to be considered successful, Norman (2003).
- 31.
Basic (2008).
- 32.
Hannum (1990).
- 33.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 34.
Reece (1977).
- 35.
Hannum (1990).
- 36.
Reece (1977).
- 37.
Alcock (1979).
- 38.
Geertz (1967).
- 39.
- 40.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 41.
Higgins (2003).
- 42.
Brilmayer (1991).
- 43.
- 44.
Young (1975).
- 45.
Horowitz (2000).
- 46.
Heraclides (1991).
- 47.
Hechter (1992).
- 48.
Hechter (1992).
- 49.
Heraclides (1991).
- 50.
N.b. Irredentism means the breaking away of a part of a state and its annexation to another neighboring state, while secession means the formation of a new independent state.
- 51.
- 52.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 53.
Research by Heraclides (1991).
- 54.
According to Heraclides after the Second World War, almost all the secessionist movements are from this type, Heraclides (1991).
- 55.
See more at Pavkovic and Radan (2007), p. 65.
- 56.
Aleksandar Pavkovic examines why the demand for secession arose in these political environments. According to him, the probable reason is that in all these cases, the secessionist group differs from the majority population in terms of language and cultural characteristics, or the group has already been recognized as separate from the parent state. In all of these cases, the political and intellectual leaders of the group believe that their group is economically and socially downgraded; see more in Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 57.
Ormond (1993), p. 128.
- 58.
See more in Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 59.
see more at Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 60.
- 61.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 62.
Pavkovic and Radan (2007).
- 63.
Text of the Statute approved in 2006 (Internet source).
- 64.
Constitution of Spain (1978).
- 65.
Flores Juberías (1998).
- 66.
Andrews (2020).
- 67.
The law for the creation of an independent republic was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on September 6, 2017. Opposition parties protested the law, calling it “a blow to democracy and a violation of opposition rights.” On September 7, the Catalan parliament passed a “transition law” to provide a legal framework pending the adoption of the new constitution. The same day, Spain’s Constitutional Court suspended it and ruled that the referendum could not legally go ahead.
- 68.
The referendum was disputed, and irregularities in the voting were noted, where anti-independence groups claimed that the same people voted more than once. The result was an overwhelming vote for independence, but because of the boycott of the opponents of secession, the turnout was only 43% for secession, Andrews (2020), p. 8.
- 69.
The decision was made by a vote of 70-10 in the absence of the deputies, who refused to participate in the vote because they considered it illegal, that is, contrary to the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Spain.
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Shikova, N. (2023). The Phenomenon of Secession. In: Self-Determination and Secession. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34322-3_5
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