Secession

For other uses, see Secession (disambiguation).

Secession (derived from the Latin term secessio) is thewithdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especiallya political entity (a country), but also any organization,union or military alliance. Threats of secession can alsobe a strategy for achieving more limited goals.[1]

1 Secession theory

Theories of secession relate to a fundamental question ofpolitical philosophy: the basis of the state’s authority.[2]

In his 1991 book Secession: The Morality of Political Di-vorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec, philos-ophy professor Allen Buchanan outlined limited rights tosecession under certain circumstances, mostly related tooppression by people of other ethnic or racial groups, andespecially those previously conquered by other peoples.[3]

In the fall of 1994 the Journal of Libertarian Studies pub-lished Robert W. McGee’s article “Secession Reconsid-ered”. He writes from a libertarian perspective, but holdsthat secession is justified only if secessionists can createa viable, if minimal, state on contiguous territory.[4]

In April 1995 the Ludwig Von Mises Institute sponsoreda secession conference. Papers from the conference werelater published in the book Secession, State and Libertyby David Gordon. Among articles included were: “TheSecession Tradition in America” by Donald Livingston;“The Ethics of Secession” by Scott Boykin; “Nationsby Consent: Decomposing the Nation-State” by MurrayRothbard; “Yankee Confederates: New England Seces-sion Movements Prior to the War Between the States”by Thomas DiLorenzo; “Was the Union Army’s Inva-sion of the Confederate States a Lawful Act?" by JamesOstrowski.[5]

In July 1998 the Rutgers University journal “Soci-ety” published papers from a “Symposium on Seces-sion and Nationalism at the Millennium” including thearticles “The Western State as Paradigm” by Hans-Herman Hoppe, “Profit Motives in Secession” by Sab-rina P. Ramet, “Rights of Secession” by Daniel Kof-man, “The Very Idea of Secession” by Donald Livingstonand “Secession, Autonomy, & Modernity” by EdwardA. Tiryakian. In 2007 the University of South Carolinasponsored a conference called “Secession As an Interna-tional Phenomenon” which produced a number of paperson the topic.[6]

1.1 Justifications for secession

Some theories of secession emphasize a general rightof secession for any reason (“Choice Theory”) whileothers emphasize that secession should be consideredonly to rectify grave injustices (“Just Cause Theory”).[7]Some theories do both. A list of justifications may bepresented supporting the right to secede, as describedby Allen Buchanan, Robert McGee, Anthony Birch,[8]Walter Williams,[9] Jane Jacobs,[10] Frances Kendall andLeon Louw,[11] Leopold Kohr,[12] Kirkpatrick Sale,[13]and various authors in David Gordon’s “Secession, Stateand Liberty”, includes:

• United States President James Buchanan, FourthAnnual Message to Congress on the State of theUnion December 3, 1860: “The fact is that ourUnion rests upon public opinion, and can never becemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civilwar. If it can not live in the affections of the people,it must one day perish. Congress possesses manymeans of preserving it by conciliation, but the swordwas not placed in their hand to preserve it by force.”

• Former President of the United States Thomas Jef-ferson, in a letter toWilliam H. Crawford, Secretaryof War under President James Madison, on June 20,1816: “In your letter to Fisk, you have fairly statedthe alternatives between which we are to choose :1, licentious commerce and gambling speculationsfor a few, with eternal war for the many ; or, 2, re-stricted commerce, peace, and steady occupationsfor all. If any State in the Union will declare thatit prefers separation with the first alternative, to acontinuance in union without it, I have no hesitationin saying, 'let us separate'. I would rather the Statesshould withdraw, which are for unlimited commerceand war, and confederate with those alone which arefor peace and agriculture.”[14]

• Economic enfranchisement of an economically op-pressed class that is regionally concentrated withinthe scope of a larger national territory.

• The right to liberty, freedom of association andprivate property

• Consent as important democratic principle; will ofmajority to secede should be recognized

• Making it easier for states to join with others in anexperimental union

1

2 1 SECESSION THEORY

• Dissolving such union when goals for which it wasconstituted are not achieved

• Self-defense when larger group presents lethal threatto minority or the government cannot adequately de-fend an area

• Self-determination of peoples

• Preserving culture, language, etc. from assimilationor destruction by a larger or more powerful group

• Furthering diversity by allowing diverse cultures tokeep their identity

• Rectifying past injustices, especially past conquestby a larger power

• Escaping “discriminatory redistribution”, i.e., taxschemes, regulatory policies, economic programs,etc. that distribute resources away to another area,especially in an undemocratic fashion

• Enhanced efficiency when the state or empire be-comes too large to administer efficiently

• Preserving “liberal purity” (or “conservative purity”)by allowing less (or more) liberal regions to secede

• Providing superior constitutional systems which al-low flexibility of secession

• Keeping political entities small and human scalethrough right to secession

Aleksandar Pavkovic,[15] associate professor at theDepartment of Politics and International Studies atMacquarie University in Australia and the author ofseveral books on secession describes five justificationsfor a general right of secession within liberal politicaltheory:[16]

• Anarcho-Capitalism: individual liberty to form po-litical associations and private property rights to-gether justify right to secede and to create a “viablepolitical order” with like-minded individuals.

• Democratic Secessionism: the right of secession, asa variant of the right of self-determination, is vestedin a “territorial community” which wishes to secedefrom “their existing political community"; the groupwishing to secede then proceeds to delimit “its” ter-ritory by the majority.

• Communitarian Secessionism: any group with aparticular “participation-enhancing” identity, con-centrated in a particular territory, which desires toimprove its members’ political participation has aprima facie right to secede.

• Cultural Secessionism: any group which was previ-ously in a minority has a right to protect and developits own culture and distinct national identity throughseceding into an independent state.

• The Secessionism of Threatened Cultures: if a mi-nority culture is threatened within a state that has amajority culture, the minority needs a right to forma state of its own which would protect its culture.

1.2 Types of secession

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Hashim Thaçi with Declara-tion of Independence of Kosovo

Secession theorists have described a number of ways inwhich a political entity (city, county, canton, state) cansecede from the larger or original state:[1][16][17]

• Secession from federation or confederation (politi-cal entities with substantial reserved powers whichhave agreed to join together) versus secession froma unitary state (a state governed as a single unit withfew powers reserved to sub-units)

• Colonial aka “wars of independence” from a“mother country” or imperial state

• National (seceding entirely from the national state)versus local (seceding from one entity of the nationalstate into another entity of the same state)

• Central or enclave (seceding entity is completelysurrounded by the original state) versus peripheral(along a border of the original state)

• Secession by contiguous units versus secession bynon-contiguous units (exclaves)

• Separation or partition (although an entity secedes,the rest of the state retains its structure) versus dis-solution (all political entities dissolve their ties andcreate several new states)

• Irredentism where secession is sought in order to an-nex the territory to another state because of commonethnicity or prior historical links

• Minority (a minority of the population or territorysecedes) versus majority (a majority of the popula-tion or territory secedes)

2.1 Australia 3

• Secession of better off regions versus secession ofworse off regions

• The threat of Secession sometimes is used as a strat-egy to gain greater autonomy within the originalstate

1.3 Arguments against secession

Allen Buchanan, who supports secession under limitedcircumstances, lists arguments that might be used againstsecession:[18]

• “Protecting Legitimate Expectations” of those whonow occupy territory claimed by secessionists, evenin cases where that land was stolen

• “Self Defense” if losing part of the state would makeit difficult to defend the rest of it

• “Protecting Majority Rule” and the principle thatminorities must abide by them

• “Minimization of Strategic Bargaining” by makingit difficult to secede, such as by imposing an exit tax

• “Soft Paternalism” because secession will be bad forsecessionists or others

• “Threat of Anarchy” because smaller and smallerentities may choose to secede until there is chaos,although this is not the true meaning of the politicaland philosophical concept.

• “Preventing Wrongful Taking” such as the state’sprevious investment in infrastructure

• “Distributive Justice” arguments that wealthier areascannot secede from poorer ones

2 Secession movements

Main articles: List of active autonomist and secessionistmovements and List of historical autonomist and seces-sionist movements

See also: the categories Secession by countryand Secessionist organizations.

Movements that work towards political secession maydescribe themselves as being autonomy, separatist,independence, self-determination, partition, devolutiondecentralization, sovereignty, self-governance ordecolonization movements instead of, or in addition to,being secession movements.

2.1 Australia

Main article: Proposals for new Australian States

During the 19th century, the single British colony in east-ern mainland Australia, New South Wales (NSW) wasprogressively divided up by the British government as newsettlements were formed and spread. Victoria (Vic) in1851 and Queensland (Qld) in 1859.However, settlers agitated to divide the colonies through-out the later part of the century; particularly in centralQueensland (centred in Rockhampton) in the 1860s and1890s, and in North Queensland (with Bowen as a po-tential colonial capital) in the 1870s. Other secession (orterritorial separation) movements arose and these advo-cated the secession of New England in northern centralNew South Wales, Deniliquin in the Riverina district alsoin NSW, andMount Gambier in the eastern part of SouthAustralia.

Western Australia

Main article: Secessionism in Western Australia

Secession movements have surfaced several times inWestern Australia (WA), where a 1933 referendum forsecession from the Federation of Australia passed with atwo-thirds majority. The referendum had to be ratifiedby the British Parliament, which declined to act, on thegrounds that it would contravene the Australian Consti-tution.

• The Principality of Hutt River claims to have se-ceded from Australia in 1970, although its status isnot recognised by Australia or any other country.According to a lexicon on nationalist movementsacross the world, Macau happened to recognise thatPrincipality.

2.2 Austria

Austria successfully seceded from Nazi Germany onApril 27, 1945. This took place after seven years of Aus-tria being part of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich due to theAnschluss annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany inMarch 1938.

2.3 Belgium and the Netherlands

Main article: Belgian Revolution

On August 25, 1830, during the reign of William I, thenationalistic opera La muette de Portici was performed inBrussels. Soon after, the Belgian Revolt occurred, whichresulted in the Belgian secession from the Netherlands.

4 2 SECESSION MOVEMENTS

Further information: Partition of Belgium

2.4 Brazil

In 1825, soon after the Empire of Brazil managed to de-feat the Cortes-Gerais and Portugal in a IndependenceWar, the platinean nationalists in Cisplatina declared in-dependence and joined the United Provinces, which ledto a stagnated war between both, as they were both weak-ened, without manpower and fragile politically. Thepeace treaty accepted Uruguay independence, reassertedthe rule of both nations over their land and some impor-tant points like free navigation in the Silver River.Three rather disorganized secessionist rebellions hap-pened inGrão-Pará, Bahia andMaranhão, where the peo-ple were unhappy with the Empire (these provinces werePortuguese bastions in the IndependenceWar). TheMalêRevolt, in Bahia, was an Islamic slave revolt. These threerebellions were bloodily crushed by the Empire of Brazil.The Pernambucan province was one of the most nativistof all, in an amazing series of five revolts (1645–1654,1710, 1817, 1824, 1848), the province threw the DutchWest India Company to the sea, tried to secede from thePortuguese Empire and from the Brazilian Empire. In theattempts the rebels were crushed, the leaders shot and itsterritory divided, nevertheless they kept revolting until itsterritory was a little fraction of what it was before.In the Ragamuffin War, the Rio Grande do Sul provincewas undergoing a (at that time common) liberal vs con-servative “cold” war. After the Emperor favoured theconservatives, the liberals took the Capital and declaredan independent Republic, fighting their way to the SantaCatarina, declaring the Juliana Republic. Eventually theywere slowly forced back, and made a reunification peacewith the Empire. The war was not a secession war, evenif it could become if the Empire was defeated, after theEmpire agreed to aid its economy by taxing Argentina’sproducts (like dry meat), the rebels reunited with the Em-pire and even filled its ranks, as the rebels were very goodfighters.

2.5 Canada

Main article: Secessionist movements of Canada

Throughout Canada’s history, there has been tensionbetween English-speaking and French-speaking Canadi-ans. Under the Constitutional Act of 1791, the Quebeccolony (including parts of what is today Quebec, Ontarioand Newfoundland and Labrador) was divided in two:Lower Canada (which retained French law and institu-tions and is now divided between the provinces of Quebecand Newfoundland and Labrador) and Upper Canada (anew colony intended to accommodate the many English-

speaking settlers, including the United Empire Loyalists,and now part of Ontario). The intent was to provide eachgroupwith its own colony. In 1841, the twoCanadas weremerged into the Province of Canada. The union provedcontentious, however, resulting in a legislative deadlockbetween English and French legislators. The difficultiesof the union led to the adoption of a federal system inCanada, and the Canadian Confederation in 1867. Thefederal framework did not eliminate all tensions, how-ever, leading to the Quebec sovereignty movement in thelatter half of the 20th century.Other occasional secessionist movements have includedanti-Confederation movements in 19th century AtlanticCanada (see Anti-Confederation Party), the North-WestRebellion of 1885, and various small separatism move-ments in Alberta particularly (see Alberta separatism)andWestern Canada generally (see, for example,WesternCanada Concept).

2.6 Central America

After the 1823 collapse of the First Mexican Empire, theformer Captaincy-General of Guatemala was organizedinto a new Federal Republic of Central America. In 1838Nicaragua seceded. The Federal Republic was formallydissolved in 1840, all but one of the states having secededamidst general disorder.

2.7 China

• Three northwestern regions of Xinjiang, Inner Mon-golia, and Tibet, (and its accompanying regions) arealso the focus of secessionist calls by the Tibetan In-dependence Movement and East Turkestan IslamicMovement.

2.8 Congo

In 1960 the State of Katanga declared independence fromthe Democratic Republic of the Congo. United Nationstroops crushed it in Operation Grand Slam.

2.9 Cyprus

In 1974, the Turkish Army invaded northern Cyprus toprotect the interests of the ethnic Turkish minority, whoin the following year formed the Turkish Federative Stateof Cyprus and in 1983 declared independence as the Re-public of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey.

2.10 East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (also known asEast Timor) has been described as having “seceded” from

2.13 Finland 5

Northern Cyprus

September 1999 demonstration for independence from Indonesia

Indonesia.[19][20][21] After Portuguese sovereignty wasterminated in 1975, East Timor was occupied by Indone-sia. However the United Nations and the InternationalCourt of Justice refused to recognize this incorporation.Therefore, the resulting civil war and eventual 2002 EastTimorese vote for complete separation are better de-scribed as an independence movement.[22]

2.11 Ethiopia

Following the 1993 victory of opposition forces againstthe communist Derg regime during the Ethiopian CivilWar, Eritrea (formerly known as “Bahri Negash” beforebeing renamed to “Eritrea” by Italian colonizers from1890–1941) seceded in a United Nations referendumwith the blessing of the newly formed Ethiopian govern-ment.

2.12 European Union

Main article: Withdrawal from the European UnionSee also: Proposed referendum on United Kingdommembership of the European Union

Before the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 De-cember 2009 no provision in the treaties or law of theEuropean Union outlined the ability of a state to volun-tarily withdraw from the EU. The European Constitutiondid propose such a provision and, after the failure to rat-ify the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, thatprovision was then included in the Lisbon Treaty.The treaty introduces an exit clause for members whowish to withdraw from the Union. This formalises theprocedure by stating that a member state may notify theEuropean Council that it wishes to withdraw, upon whichwithdrawal negotiations begin; if no other agreement isreached the treaty ceases to apply to the withdrawing statetwo years after such notification.

2.13 Finland

Finland successfully and peacefully seceded from thenewly formed and weak Russian Soviet Federative So-cialist Republic in 1917, the latter led by Lenin who hadgoodwill towards the Finns due to their having helpedin his revolutionary struggle. Unsuccessful attempts atgreater autonomy or peaceful secession had already beenmade during the preceding Russian Empire but had beendenied by the Russian emperor.

2.14 France

• Alsace independence movement

2.15 Gran Colombia

Map showing the shrinking territory of Gran Colombia from1824 to 1890 (red line). Panama separated from Colombia in1903.

After a decade of tumultuous federalism, Ecuador andVenezuela seceded from Gran Colombia in 1830, leav-ing the similarly tumultuous United States of Colombia,

6 2 SECESSION MOVEMENTS

now the Republic of Colombia which also lost Panama in1903.

2.16 Republic of India (Indian Union)

Main article: Separatist movements of India

Pakistan seceded from the British Indian empire in whatis known as the Partition. Today, the Constitution of In-dia does not allow Indian states to secede from the Union.The disputed territory of Indian-administered Kashmirhas had a violent nationalist movement against Indian an-nexation mostly in the Valley of Kashmir since 1989,which continues and is supported by Pakistan. Otherviolent secessionist movements in Nagaland, Assam,Manipur, Punjab (known as the Khalistan movement),Mizoram and Tripura were also formerly active, whileTamil Nadu had a non-violent movement in the 1960s.[23]While a violent Maoist Naxalite insurgency continues torage across a wide-swath of eastern rural India, the move-ment is not considered a secessionist movement becausethe goal of the Maoists is to overthrow the governmentof India, although rebel commanders have occasionallycalled for a Communist republic to be carved out ofswaths of India. The Pakistani Armed organizations isa participant in the Kashmir conflict and strives to estab-lish the merger state of Jammu and Kashmir from secularIndia to Muslim Pakistan.

2.17 Italy

The Movement for the Independence of Sicily (Movi-mento Indipendentista Siciliano, MIS) has its roots in theSicilian Independentist Movement of the late 1940s; theyhave been around for 60 years. Today, the MIS no longerexists, though many other parties have been born. One isNation Sicily (Sicilia Nazione), which still believes in theidea that Sicily, due to its deeply personal and ancient his-tory, has to be a sovereign country. Moreover, a commonideology shared by all the Sicilian independentist move-ments is to fight against Cosa Nostra and all the otherMafia organizations, that have a very deep influence overSicily’s public and private institutions. Also, the Sicilianbranch of the Five Star Movement, which is accordingto the polls Sicily’s most popular party, has publicly ex-pressed the intention to start working for a possible seces-sion from Italy in the case where the central governmentwould not collaborate in shifting the nation’s admistria-tive organization from a unitary country to a federativecountry.Lega Nord has been seeking the independenceof the so-called region of Padania, which includes landsalong the Po Valley in northern Italy. Some organiza-tions separately work for the independence of Venetia orVeneto and the secession or reunification of South Ty-rol with Austria. Lega Nord, that governs Lombardy,has expressed his will in making the region a sovereign

nation. Also the island of Sardinia is home to a no-table nationalist movement. Still, the whole southern Italyhas clearly expressed the will to secede from the nation.This newborn ideology is so-called neo-bourbonic, be-cause of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which was un-der the control of the House of Bourbon. The Kingdomof Two Sicilies was created in 1816 after the Congressof Vienna, and it had over its control both Sicily andSouth Italy. The Reign came to an end in 1861 withthe unification of Italy, being annexed to the newbornkingdom. However, the patriotic feelings shared amongthe shouthern Italian population is more ancient, startingin 1130 with the Kingdom of Sicily, which was com-posed by both the island and south Italy. According tothe neo-bourbonic movements the Italian regions whichshould secede are Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Apulia,Molise, Campania, Abruzzo, and Latio's provinces ofRieti, Latina and Frosinone. The major movements andparties which believe in this ideology are UnioneMediter-ranea, Mo! and Briganti.

2.18 Iran

Active secession movements include: Iranian Azeri,Assyrian independence movement, Bakhtiary lurs move-ment in 1876, Iranian Kurdistan; Kurdistan DemocraticParty of Iran (KDPI), Khūzestān Province Balochistanindependence movement for free separated Balochistan,(Arab nationalist); Al-Ahwaz Arab People’s DemocraticPopular Front, Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz(See Politics of Khūzestān Province: Arab politics andseparatism), and Balochistan People’s Party (BPP) sup-porting Baloch Separatism.[24]

2.19 Malaysia

When racial and partisan strife erupted, Singapore wasexpelled from the Malaysian federation in 1965. Agita-tion for secession has since been sporadic on the culturallydistinct large island of Borneo in the states of Sabah andSarawak although these sentiments has been gaining mo-mentum and supports in the past few years following theproliferation of social medias and failure of the centralgovernment to fulfill conditions of the Malaysia Agree-ment 1963.

2.20 Mexico

• Texas seceded fromMexico in 1836 (see Texas Rev-olution), after animosity between the Mexican gov-ernment and the American settlers of the Coahuilay Tejas State. It was later annexed by the UnitedStates in 1845.

• The Republic of the Rio Grande seceded fromMex-ico on January 17, 1840, it rejoined Mexico on

2.22 Nigeria 7

The Territorial evolution of Mexico after independence, notinglosses to the US (red, white and orange) and the secession ofCentral America (purple)

November 6 the same year.

• After the federal system was abandoned byPresident Santa Anna, the Congress of Yucatánapproved in 1840 a declaration of independence,establishing the Republic of Yucatán. The Republicrejoined Mexico in 1843.

2.21 New Zealand

See also: South Island Independence

Secession movements have surfaced several times in theSouth Island of New Zealand. A Premier of NewZealand, Sir Julius Vogel, was amongst the first peopleto make this call, which was voted on by the Parliamentof New Zealand as early as 1865. The desire for South Is-land independence was one of the main factors in movingthe capital of New Zealand from Auckland to Wellingtonin the same year.The NZ South Island Party with a pro-South agenda,fielded only five candidates (4.2% of electoral seats) can-didates in the 1999 General Election but only achieved0.14% (2622 votes) of the general vote. The reality todayis that although “South Islanders” are most proud of theirgeographic region, secession does not carry any real con-stituency; the party was not able to field any candidates inthe 2008 election due to being unable to enlist 500 payingmembers, a requirement by the New Zealand Electoralcommission. The party is treated more as a “joke” partythan any real political force.

A girl during the Nigerian Civil War of the late 1960s. Picturesof the famine caused by Nigerian blockade garnered sympathyfor the Biafrans worldwide.

2.22 Nigeria

Between 1967 and 1970, the unrecognised state of Bi-afra (The Republic of Biafra) seceded from Nigeria, re-sulting in a civil war that ended with the state returning toNigeria. Later in 1999 at the beginning of a new demo-cratic regime, other secessionist movements emerged, themovement for the Actualization of a Sovereign state ofBiafra was formed as a military wing of the Republic ofBiafra.

2.23 Norway and Sweden

Main article: Dissolution of the union between Norwayand Sweden in 1905

Sweden, having left the Kalmar Union with Denmark andNorway in the 16th century, entered into a loose personalunion with Norway in 1814. Following a constitutionalcrisis, on June 7, 1905 the Norwegian Parliament de-clared that King Oscar II had failed to fulfill his consti-tutional duties. He was therefore no longer King of Nor-way and because the union depended on the two countriessharing a king, it was thus dissolved. After negotiationsSweden agreed to this on October 26 and on April 14.

8 2 SECESSION MOVEMENTS

2.24 Pakistan

After the Awami League won the 1970 national elections,negotiations to form a new government floundered, re-sulting in the Bangladesh Liberation War by which theeastern wing of Pakistan seceded, to become Bangladesh.The Balochistan Liberation Army (also Baloch Liber-ation Army or Boluchistan Liberation army) (BLA) isa Baloch nationalist militant secessionist organization.The stated goals of the organization include the estab-lishment of an independent state of Balochistan free ofPakistani and Iranian Federations. The name Baloch Lib-eration Army first became public in summer 2000, afterthe organization claimed credit for a series of bomb at-tacks in markets and removal of railways lines.and SindhoDesh liberation army(S.L.A) is Sindhi nationalists mili-tant wing which also struggled against Punjabi imperialsnational slavery they also claimed series of bomb attackat transmission lines and railway lines .

2.25 Papua New Guinea

Main article: Provinces of Papua New Guinea § TheBougainville issue

The island of Bougainville has made several efforts to se-cede from Papua New Guinea.

2.26 Somalia

Somaliland is an autonomous region,[25] which is partof the Federal Republic of Somalia.[26][27] Those whocall the area the Republic of Somaliland consider it tobe the successor state of the former British Somalilandprotectorate. Having established its own local govern-ment in Somalia in 1991, the region’s self-declared in-dependence remains unrecognized by any country or in-ternational organization.[28][29]

2.27 Soviet Union

The Constitution of the Soviet Union guaranteed all SSRsthe right to secede from the Union. In practice however,the central government wouldn't allow an SSR to secede.In 1990, after free elections, the Lithuanian SSR declaredindependence and other SSRs soon followed. Despite theSoviet central-government’s refusal to recognize the inde-pendence of the republics, the Soviet Union dissolved in1991.

2.28 South Africa

In 1910, following the British Empire’s defeat ofthe Afrikaner in the Boer Wars, four self-governingcolonies in the south of Africa were merged into the

Union of South Africa. The four regions were theCape Colony, Orange Free State, Natal and Transvaal.Three other territories, High Commission Territoriesof Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Basutoland (nowLesotho) and Swaziland later became independent statesin the 1960s. Following the election of the Nationalistgovernment in 1948, some English-speaking whites inNatal advocated either secession or a loose federation.[30]There were also calls for secession, with Natal and theeastern part of the Cape Province breaking away.[31] fol-lowing the referendum in 1960 on establishing a republic,and in 1993, prior to South Africa’s first elections underuniversal suffrage and the end of apartheid, some Zululeaders in KwaZulu-Natal[32] considered secession as didsome politicians in the Cape Province.[33]

In 2008, a political movement calling for the return toindependence of the Cape resurged in the shape of thepolitical organisation, the Cape Party. The Cape Partycontested their first elections on 22 April 2009.[34]

2.29 Spain

Main article: Nationalisms and regionalisms of SpainSpain (known officially as “the Kingdom of Spain”) was

A republican mural in Belfast showing solidarity with the Basquenationalism.

assembled in the 15th and 16th centuries from variouscomponent kingdoms, some having lost their secessionwars. Spain has several secessionist movements, the mostnotable being in Catalonia and in the Basque Country.

2.30 Sri Lanka

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, operated a defacto independent state for Tamils called Tamil Eelam in

2.33 United Kingdom 9

eastern and northern Sri Lanka until 2009.

2.31 Switzerland

In 1847, seven disaffected Catholic cantons formed a sep-arate alliance because of moves to change the cantons ofSwitzerland from a confederation to a more centralizedgovernment federation. This effort was crushed in theSonderbund war and a new Swiss Federal Constitutionwas created.[35]

2.32 Ukraine

Donetsk status referendum organized by pro-Russian separatists.A line to enter a polling place, 11 May 2014

In the aftermath of the Ukrainian Revolution of 2014,several regions of Ukraine declared independence:

• InMarch 2014, the governments of theAutonomousRepublic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol de-clared independence fromUkraine and asked to jointhe Russian Federation.[36][37]

• The Donetsk People’s Republic was declared tobe independent from Ukraine on 7 April 2014,comprising the territory of the Donetsk Oblast.There have been military confrontations betweenthe Ukrainian Army and the forces of the DonetskPeople’s Republic when the Ukrainian Governmentattempted to reassert control over the oblast.

• The Lugansk Parliamentary Republic was pro-claimed on 27 April 2014.[38] before being suc-ceeded by the Lugansk People’s Republic. The Lu-gansk forces have successfully occupied vital build-ings in Lugansk since 8 April, and controlled theCity Council, prosecutor’s office, and police sta-tion since 27 April.[39] The Government of the Lu-gansk Oblast announced its support for a referen-dum, and granted the governorship to independenceleader Valeriy Bolotov.[40]

2.33 United Kingdom

Ireland is the only territory that has withdrawn from theUnited Kingdom proper. Ireland declared independencein 1916 and, as the Irish Free State, gained independencein 1922. Currently the United Kingdom has a number ofsecession movements:

• In Northern Ireland, Irish Republicans andNationalists in general, have long called for thesecession of Northern Ireland from the UnitedKingdom in order to join the Republic of Ireland.This is opposed by Unionists.

A mural in Belfast depicting the Easter Rising of 1916

• In Scotland the Scottish National Party (SNP) cam-paigns for Scottish independence and direct Scottishmembership of the European Union. It has repre-sentation at all levels of Scottish politics and formsthe devolved Scottish Government. A number ofnascent pro-independence parties have enjoyed onlylimited electoral success. The Scottish Green Party,the Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Enter-prise Party are most widely publicised. Howeverall independence movements/parties are opposed byUnionists. A referendum on independence, in whichvoters were asked “Should Scotland be an indepen-dent country?", took place in September 2014, andresulted in a victory for the “no” campaign as 55.3percent of voters voted against independence.[41]

10 3 SEE ALSO

• In Wales, Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) stands forWelsh independence within the European Union. Itis also represented at all levels of Welsh politics andis the third largest party in the National Assembly ofWales.

• In Cornwall, supporters of Mebyon Kernow callfor the creation of a Cornish Assembly and sepa-ration from England, giving the county significantself-government, whilst remaining within the UnitedKingdom as a fifth home nation.

• In England the now-disbanded Free England Party(FEP) campaigned for English independence.

• Parts of Southern England like Devon, the Isle ofWight, Minster in Kent, andWessex, have autonomymovements.

• Some of the more radical members of the Britishdirect democracy movement in the Conserva-tive Party (Daniel Hannan for example) – whilenot actually advocating secession – support thefederalization of the UK into states along countyboundaries (actually a proposal of 5 or 6 regions ofEngland, 4 or 5 in Scotland and 3 in Wales). Thereare currently 9 government office regions in Englandand none in the other Home Nations.

2.34 United States

Main article: Secession in the United States

Discussions and threats of secession often surface inAmerican politics, and secession was declared during theCivil War between the States. However, in 1869 theUnited States Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White,74 U.S. 700 (1869) that unilateral secession was not per-mitted saying that the union between a state (Texas inthe case before the bar) “was as complete, as perpet-ual, and as indissoluble as the union between the originalStates. There was no place for reconsideration or revoca-tion, except through revolution or through consent of theStates.”[42][43]

2.35 Yemen

North Yemen and South Yemenmerged in 1990; tensionsled to a 1994 southern secession which was crushed in acivil war.

2.36 Yugoslavia

On June 25, 1991, Croatia and Slovenia seceded fromthe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bosniaand Hercegovina and Macedonia also declared indepen-dence, after which the federation broke up, causing the

A destroyed T-34-85 tank in Karlovac, Croatian War of Inde-pendence, 1992

separation of the remaining two countries Serbia andMontenegro. Several wars ensued between FR Yu-goslavia and seceding entitites and among other ethnicgroups in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, andlater, Kosovo. Montenegro peacefully separated from itsunion with Serbia in 2006.Kosovo declared de facto independence on February 17,2008, and was recognized by several dozen countries, butofficially remains under United Nations administration.There is a strong tendency for secession of the Republicof Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3 See also

3.1 Lists

• List of historical autonomist and secessionist move-ments

• List of active autonomist and secessionist move-ments

• List of unrecognized countries

• List of U.S. state secession proposals

• List of U.S. county secession proposals

3.2 Topics

• Autonomy

• Bioregionalism

• City state

• Decentralization

• Economic secession

• Homeland

• Micronation

11

• Nullification (U.S. Constitution)

• Schism (religion)

• Self-determination

• Separatism

• Urban secession

3.3 Movements

• Balochistan Liberation Army

• Cape Party

• Cascadia

• Christian Exodus

• Conch Republic

• United States Declaration of Independence

• Essex Junto

• European Free Alliance

• Free State Project

• The Great Republic of Rough and Ready

• Hartford Convention

• Kurdistan

• League of the South

• Middlebury Institute

• New York City secession

• Orania, Northern Cape

• Republic of Kinney

• Republic of South Carolina

• Scottish Secession Church

• Secession of Quebec

• Second Vermont Republic

• South Carolina Exposition and Protest

• Texas Secession Movement

• Black Liberation Army

• Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

4 References[1] Allen Buchanan, “Secession”, Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy, 2007.

[2] Scott Boykin, “The Ethics of Secession”, in David Gor-don, Secession, State and Liberty, Transactions Publishers,1998.

[3] Allen Buchanan, Secession: The Morality of Political Di-vorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec, WestView Press, 1991.

[4] Robert W. McGee, Secession Reconsidered, the Journalof Libertarian Studies, Fall 1994.

[5] David Gordon, Secession, State and Liberty, TransactionsPublishers, 1998.

[6] “Secession As an International Phenomenon”, Abstractsof Papers, 2007Association for Research on Ethnicity andNationalism in the Americas conference sponsored by theUniversity of South Carolina Richard Walker Institute forInternational Studies.

[7] Allen Buchanan, How can We Construct a Political The-ory of Secession?, paper presented October 5, 2006 to theInternational Studies Association.

[8] Anthony H. Birch, “Another Liberal Theory of Seces-sion”. Political Studies 32, 1984, 596-602.

[9] Walter Williams, Parting company is an option,WorldNetDaily.Com, December 24, 2003.

[10] Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Vintage,1985.

[11] Frances Kendall and Leon Louw, After Apartheid: TheSolution for South Africa, Institute for ContemporaryStudies, 1987. One of several popular books they wroteabout canton-based constitutional alternatives that includean explicit right to secession.

[12] Leopold Kohr, The Breakdown of Nations, Routledge &K. Paul, 1957

[13] Human Scale, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980.

[14] “Full text of “The writings of Thomas Jefferson;"".archive.org. Retrieved 12 August 2015.

[15] University of Technology, Sydney description of Aleksan-dar Pavkovic

[16] Aleksandar Pavkovic, Secession, Majority Rule and EqualRights: a FewQuestions, Macquarie University Law Jour-nal, 2003.

[17] Steven Yates, “When Is Political Divorce Justified” inDavid Gordon, 1998.

[18] Allen Buchanan, Secession: The Morality of Political Di-vorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec, Chapter3, pp. 87-123.

[19] Santosh C. Saha, Perspectives on contemporary ethnic con-flict, p. 63, Lexington Books, 2006 ISBN 0-7391-1085-3.

12 5 FURTHER READING

[20] Paul D. Elliot, The East Timor Dispute, The Internationaland Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan.,1978).

[21] James J. Fox, Dionisio Babo Soares, Out of the ashes: de-struction and reconstruction of East Timor, p. 175, ANUE Press, 2003, ISBN 0-9751229-1-6

[22] Thomas D.Musgrave, Self-determination and national mi-norities, p. xiii, Oxford University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-19-829898-6

[23] Linz, Juan; Stepan, Alfred; Yadav, Yogendra (2007). 'Na-tion State' or 'State Nation': India in Comparative Perspec-tive. Oxford University Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN 0-19-568368-4

[24] “UNPO: West Balochistan”. unpo.org. Retrieved 12 Au-gust 2015.

[25] No Winner Seen in Somalia’s Battle With Chaos NewYork Times, June 2, 2009

[26] The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic:“The Somali Republic shall have the following boundaries.(a) North; Gulf of Aden. (b) North West; Djibouti. (c)West; Ethiopia. (d) South south-west; Kenya. (e) East;Indian Ocean.”

[27] “The World Factbook”. cia.gov. Retrieved 12 August2015.

[28] The Signs Say Somaliland, but the World Says Somalia

[29] UN in Action: Reforming Somaliland’s Judiciary

[30] SOUTHAFRICA: Cry of Secession TIME, Monday, May11, 1953

[31] Secession Talked by Some Anti-Republicans, SaskatoonStar-Phoenix, 11 October 1960

[32] Launching Democracy in South Africa: The First OpenElection, April 1994, R. W. Johnson, Lawrence Schlem-mer, Yale University Press, 1996

[33] Party Wants the Cape to Secede”, Business Day, Decem-ber 24, 1993.

[34] Cape Party Website , Monday, May 11, 1953

[35] A Brief Survey of Swiss History, Switzerland Federal De-partment of Foreign Affairs.

[36] Gavin Hewitt (March 17, 2014). “BBC News - Crimeanparliament formally applies to join Russia”. Bbc.com.Retrieved April 20, 2014.

[37] "Парламент Крыма принял Декларацию онезависимости АРК и г. Севастополя [Crimeanparliament adopted the Declaration of Independence ofthe ARC and Sevastopol]" (in Russian). 11 March 2014.Retrieved 12 March 2014.

[38] “TASS:World - Federalization supporters in Luhansk pro-claim people’s republic”. TASS. Retrieved 12 August2015.

[39] “Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia activists take Luhansk of-fices”. BBC News. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 18 January2015.

[40] “Luhansk regional council backs referendum on region’sstatus”. kyivpost.com. Retrieved 6 May 2014.

[41] Smout, Alistair; MacLellan, Kylie; Holton, Kate (Septem-ber 19, 2014). “Special Report - Scotland stays in UK, butBritain faces change”. Reuters. Retrieved September 19,2014.

[42] Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1868) at Cornell UniversityLaw School Supreme Court collection.

[43] Aleksandar Pavković, Peter Radan, Creating New States:Theory and Practice of Secession, p. 222, Ashgate Pub-lishing, Ltd., 2007.

5 Further reading

• Buchanan, Allen, Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for InternationalLaw (Oxford Political Theory), Oxford UniversityPress, 2007.

• Buchanan, Allen, Secession: The Morality Of Po-litical Divorce From Fort Sumter To Lithuania AndQuebec, Westview Press, 1991.

• Coppieters, Bruno; Richard Sakwa, Richard (eds.),Contextualizing Secession: Normative Studies inComparative Perspective, Oxford University Press,USA, 2003

• Dos Santos, Anne Noronha, Military Interven-tion and Secession in South Asia: The Cases ofBangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and Punjab (PsiReports), Praeger Security International, 2007.

• Gordon, David, Secession, State and Liberty, Trans-actions Publishers, 1998.

• Hannum, Hurst, Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of ConflictingRights, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.

• Hawes, Robert F., One Nation, Indivisible? A Studyof Secession and the Constitution, Fultus Corpora-tion, 2006.

• Jovanovic, Miodrag, Constitutionalizing Secession inFederalized States: A Procedural Approach, AshgatePublishing, 2006.

• Kohen, Marcelo G. (ed.), Secession: InternationalLaw Perspectives, Cambridge University Press,2006.

• Kohr, Leopold, The Breakdown of Nations, Rout-ledge & K. Paul, 1957.

13

• Lehning, Percy, Theories of Secession, Routledge,1998.

• Norman, Wayne, Negotiating Nationalism: Nation-Building, Federalism, and Secession in the Multina-tional State, Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.

• Orlov, Dimitry, Reinventing Collapse, New SocietyBooks, 2008, ISBN 978-0-86571-606-3

• Pascalev, Mario, “Territory: An Account of the Ter-ritorial Authority of States.” Dissertation, BowlingGreen State University, VDM, 2009.

• Sorens, Jason, Secessionism: Identity, Interest, andStrategy, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.

• Sorens, Jason (2008). “Sessionism”. In Hamowy,Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thou-sand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 455–6. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151.OCLC 750831024.

• Spencer, Metta, Separatism: Democracy and Disin-tegration, Rowman & Littlefield, 1998.

• Weller, Marc, Autonomy, Self Governance and Con-flict Resolution (Kindle Edition), Taylor & Francis,2007.

• Wellman, Christopher Heath, A Theory of Seces-sion, Cambridge University Press, 2005..

• Secession And International Law: ConflictAvoidance-regional Appraisals, United NationsPublications, 2006.

6 External links• Christopher Ketcham, Most Likely to Secede, GoodMagazine, January 2008.

• Michael Hirsch, How the South Won (This) CivilWar, Newsweek, April 2008, article speculating onnorthern secession.

• Secession (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

• Secession - from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

• Secession - from the Columbia Electronic Encyclo-pedia

• “Secession As an International Phenomenon”. Ab-stracts of Papers, 2007 Association for Research onEthnicity and Nationalism in the Americas confer-ence sponsored by the University of South CarolinaRichard Walker Institute for International Studies.

• Andrei Kreptul, The Constitutional Right of Seces-sion in Political Theory and History, Journal of Lib-ertarian Studies, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Vol-ume 17, no. 4 (Fall 2003), pp. 39–100.

• Assistant professor Jason Sorens’ writings on seces-sion, Department of Political Science, University atBuffalo

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "secession".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). CambridgeUniversity Press.

14 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• Secession Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession?oldid=712032227 Contributors: Danny, William Avery, Roadrunner, Ed-ward, Kchishol1970, Fred Bauder, (, SebastianHelm, Ellywa, Ahoerstemeier, Jiang, Rl, JASpencer, Jengod, Emperorbma, CharlesMatthews, Crissov, Zoicon5, Radiojon, Chl, Johnleemk, Jeffq, AlexPlank, Robbot, Dale Arnett, Moondyne, Psychonaut, Modulatum,Tualha, SchmuckyTheCat, Bkell, Jeroen, UtherSRG, Alan Liefting, Phildav76, TOttenville8, Tom harrison, Orangemike, Orpheus, TomRadulovich, Everyking, Jacob1207, Guanaco, Mboverload, Eequor, Apoivre, Grant65, SWAdair, Stevietheman, Utcursch, Kjetil r, Ran,Antandrus, Vanished user 1234567890, JimWae, RayBirks, Sam Hocevar, B.d.mills, Dsboxer, Gazpacho, Mike Rosoft, D6, Perey,DanielCD, Discospinster, Dsurber, Rich Farmbrough, Quiensabe, Samboy, Alistair1978, Dbachmann, SpookyMulder, Bender235, Com-monbrick, Ylee, Livajo, Surachit, Bobo192, Longhair, Smalljim, John Vandenberg, Cwolfsheep, Giraffedata, Slipperyweasel, Hesperian,Krellis, Wiki-uk, Penwhale, CJ, Alinor, Pioneer-12, Runtime, Capecodeph, Nightstallion, Inge, BadLeprechaun, PeterR2, Tabletop, Pri-vacy, JohnC, Toussaint, Prashanthns, Graham87, Bforte, Squideshi, Rjwilmsi, Coemgenus, Allenc28, Wikibofh, Vary, Elcid, Gudeldar,NeonMerlin, Dunkelza, Rlp27, Ewlyahoocom, Common Man, Vonkje, Metropolitan90, Bgwhite, Cornellrockey, Gellersen, RussBot, RedSlash, Kipple, Mved, Gaius Cornelius, Redspork02, Wimt, Grafen, ONEder Boy, GreatGodOm, Rjensen, Kubura, Gillis, Cleared asfiled, Cholmes75, Number 57, Kanaye, Tomtyke, Pablomartinez, .marc., Delos~enwiki, BusterD, Scope creep, Black Falcon, Zero Grav-itas, Vegas215, Wknight94, Keppa, Poppy, Alias Flood, Mais oui!, EdNeave, Scolaire, SmackBot, Slleong, KnowledgeOfSelf, K-UNIT,Skeezix1000, David.Mestel, Aetheling1125, Wpm, Rrius, Kintetsubuffalo, Daddycruel, Mauls, Septegram, Slo-mo, Bluebot, BronzeWar-rior, JonRidinger, Hebel, Miquonranger03, Hibernian, The Moose, Htra0497, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, EOZyo, Rrburke, Khoikhoi,Jmlk17, MrRadioGuy, Valenciano, Weregerbil, Viking880, Delphadj, Kukini, TTE, Yohan euan o4, Bigj7489, Woogums, ML5, Jperrylsu,Accurizer, Joffeloff, Edward Morgan Blake, Gnevin, Robert.starkey, JHunterJ, BillFlis, Fangfufu, Zapvet, NeroN BG, Tenor5300, Eidel-bus, Northernontariomovement, Levineps, Mostssa, Grblomerth, Joseph Solis in Australia, Dunne409, Adambiswanger1, Jsorens, Tawker-bot2, Sanrensei~enwiki, Petr Matas, CmdrObot, JohnCD, Joncnunn, El aprendelenguas, Ankimai, LCpl, Masu, Jasonsk287, Cahk, Christ-Trekker, MC10, Bellerophon5685, Travelbird, 01011000, Ebrahim, Aldis90, Joowwww, Epbr123, Lord Hawk, Biruitorul, Indy muaddib,Andyjsmith, 24fan24, Id447, Marek69, Horologium, JustAGal, Nick Number, Cooljuno411, X96lee15, John Smythe, AntiVandalBot,MNijhuis, BokicaK, Purpleslog, BillyBong, Seaphoto, SummerPhD, Carolmooredc, Tchoutoye, Florm, North Shoreman, GSTQ, Duncan-Hill, Meatloafx, Mike D 26, PubliusFL, JWest, Cynwolfe, !paradigm!, Magioladitis, Rafuki 33, AtticusX, Swpb, Fr seraphim, Robert mann,KConWiki, IkonicDeath, Islandisee, Talon Artaine, JaGa, Havoc21, Bardhylius, Cocytus, MartinBot, Siswrn, Jim.henderson, Zouavman LeZouave, Mschel, R'n'B, J.delanoy, Aleksandr Grigoryev, Uncle Dick, PhilLiberty, Geonarva, Maproom, Dwitbal Sogi, Ryan Postlethwaite,Arms&Hearts, NewEnglandYankee, Lizmichael, Ahuskay, Sbk70, Jevansen, OsirisV, Nomi887, Idioma-bot, Signalhead, Part Deux, That-Vela-Fella, TXiKiBoT, Oshwah, LordJanos, LeaveSleaves, Tsob, Delbert Grady, Clintville, Lova Falk, Falcon8765, Highground79, Ed-wardjacobs123, Rob09, StAnselm, Ipankonin, CsikosLo, Australia2world, Gotipe, Hywel Dda, Radon210, Harun8, Dismalscholar, Sf46,Steven Crossin, Lightmouse, Laatsahib, Bfx0, P8asta, Yohann4, Denisarona, RedShirtArmy, Mr. Granger, Martarius, ClueBot, AdmiralNorton, PipepBot, Prizes fan, Mild Bill Hiccup, Tkw231, TheOldJacobite, Foofbun, Niceguyedc, Harland1, Shutendo, Jeremiestrother,Spiffyhumanbean, Supergodzilla2090, SchreiberBike, Horselover Frost, Berean Hunter, DumZiBoT, HanBoN, XLinkBot, Larno Man,NellieBly, Hibagon, JCDenton2052, Addbot, Tcncv, Morriswa, Kman543210, Ka Faraq Gatri, CarsracBot, Ayudante2008, Φοίνιξ, Chzz,Tide rolls, ,زرشک Middayexpress, Luckas-bot, MileyDavidA, Yobot, MiS-Saath, LifeOnJinx, Simon4258, Iroony, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot,Jim1138, Piano non troppo, Lecen, Materialscientist, Tdls, Bob Burkhardt, LilHelpa, Capricorn42, Benahmet, Grim23, Srich32977, Para-dox21, Coretheapple, Colanderman, Bellerophon, CHJL, Sophus Bie, Slayer9747, E0steven, TerraHikaru, FrescoBot, Tobby72, Lotharvon Richthofen, Bodigami, Freedom1910, Serols, Belchman, Vinay84, Vrenator, Clarkcj12, Greeneemer, Schwede66, Lucobrat, Meanas custard, RjwilmsiBot, Arasara, EmausBot, John of Reading, Kpufferfish, Shehzadtm, GoingBatty, Dave6662, Tisane, Wikipelli, Hed-ning333, Thecheesykid, Namastheg, PBS-AWB, Professor Storyteller, Christina Silverman, Quantumor, XJ3N0V4x, Mahdipur, ClueBotNG, 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