Contextualizing Secession

In a world where the traditional territorial organisation of the state is coming under increasing challenge from pressures from above (globalisation) and from below (struggles for federalisation and secession), the theoretical and practical questions concerning secessionist struggles become ever more acute. It is these questions that this volume addresses. Why do some struggles for autonomy take acute forms, above all violent struggles for secession (for example, Chechnya), while others remain within the framework of constitutional politics (for example, Tatarstan and Quebec)? Under what conditions does a distinct political community have the right to secede from another, and how should this process be managed? Our ten case studies seek to answer these questions on the basis of the application of just war theory to the normative and practical issues concerning the secession struggles in these regions. The Introduction sets out the theoretical issues, and then each case study provides a rich mix of theoretical and empirical material, and some of the broader issues are then drawn together in the concluding chapter. The book focuses on four key themes that are central to the ethics of secession. The first examines normative issues, in particular the tension between 'choice' theories and those based on remedial 'just cause' arguments. The second discusses the problem of violence in secessionist struggles and the ensuing relationship between just war theory and the ethics of secession. The third problem is the relationship between nationhood and citizenship, and in particular the problem of applying what has now become a conventional distinction between ethnic and civic representations of the political community. Finally, the contentious issue of sovereignty and the way that it frames debates about self-determination. With each of these themes, the application of general moral principles to particular historical contexts opens up new avenues of research. This book is essential reading for those who wish to understand both the theoretical and practical issues concerning secession struggles in the world today.

Readership: Scholars and Students of Political science, Political Theory, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and International Law

Edited by Bruno Coppieters, Associate Professor of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent at Canterbury

1: Bruno Coppieters: Introduction
2: Michel Huysseune: A nation Confronting a Secessionist Claim: Italy and the Lega Nord
3: Gunter Lauwers: Discussing Autonomy and Independence for Corsica
4: Nathalie Tocci: Self-Determination in Cyprus: Future Options within a European Order
5: Richard Kerney: Britain and Iralnd: Towards a Postnationalist Archipelago
6: Raymond Detrez: The Right to Self-Determination and Secession in Yugoslavia: a Hornets' Nest of Inconsistencies
7: Alexei Zverev: A Special Status for Tatarstan: Validity of Claims and Limits on Sovereignty
8: Richard Sakwa: Chechnya: A Just War Fought Unjustly?
9: Bruno Coppieters: War and Secession: A Moral Analysis of the Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict
10: Ronald Rudin: Unravelling Dichotomies: Ethnic and Civic understanding of the Nation in Quebec Nationalist Discourse
11: Xiaokun Song: A Unified China or an Independent Taiwan? A Normative Assessment of the Cross-Strait Conflict
12: Bruno Coppieters: Conclusion: Just War Theory and the Ethics of Secession