Table Of ContentTHE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SELF-
DETERMINATION AND SECESSION
The Routledge Handbook of Self-Determination and Secession explores the various debates
surrounding the issues of self-determination and secession, and the legal, political, and normative
implications they give rise to.
Ofering a broad survey of the state of the sub-discipline today, the chapters are divided
into seven key parts: an Introduction, Self-Determination, Explaining and Justifying Secession,
Secession Strategies, Counter-Secession Strategies, International Law and Secession, and
Constitutional Law and Secession. The authors, from a range of disciplinary backgrounds,
explore all the recent approaches to secession and self-determination based on strategic
interaction of major actors in a secession process.
This handbook will be of great interest to students and researchers from a variety of disciplines
including politics and international relations, security studies, and law.
Ryan D. Griffiths is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Syracuse
University, USA.
Aleksandar Pavković is Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at
Macquarie University, Australia.
Peter Radan is Honorary Professor of Law at Macquarie University, Australia. He is also a
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK
OF SELF-DETERMINATION
AND SECESSION
Edited by Ryan D. Griffths,
Aleksandar Pavković and Peter Radan
Designed cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Ryan D. Grifths, Aleksandar
Pavković and Peter Radan; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Ryan D. Grifths, Aleksandar Pavković and Peter Radan to be
identifed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-367-47811-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-69246-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-03659-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003036593
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Notes on contributors x
PART I
Introduction 1
1 The meaning of self-determination 3
Rowan Nicholson
2 The emergence and evolution of self-determination 16
Uriel Abulof
3 The meaning of secession 30
Peter Radan
PART II
Self-determination 39
4 Who are the “peoples” entitled to the right of self-determination? 41
Glen Anderson
5 Self-determination and decolonization 60
Costas Laoutides
6 Self-determination and the use of force 74
Rowan Nicholson
7 Minorities, self-determination and secession 88
Felicitas Benziger and Joshua Castellino
v
Contents
8 Indigenous peoples and self-determination in settler states 102
David MacDonald
9 The map makes the people: the territorial nature of self-determination 117
Timothy William Waters
PART III
Explaining and justifying secession 131
10 The causes of secession 133
Diego Muro
11 The lifecycle of secession: interactions, processes and predictions 146
Nicholas Sambanis and David S. Siroky
12 The causes and consequences of fragmentation in secessionist movements 164
Feike E. M. Fliervoet and Lee J. M. Seymour
13 Geopolitics of secession: secession in the international setting 177
Martin Riegl and Bohumil Doboš
14 Debating the right to secede: normative theories of secession 191
Argyro Kartsonaki
PART IV
Secession strategies 205
15 Secession and the strategic playing feld 207
Ryan D. Grifths
16 Strategic choices for secessionist mobilization 219
Philip G. Roeder
17 Referendums as instruments for secession 233
Matt Qvortrup
18 Majoritarianism and secession: an ambiguous but powerful relationship 247
Sean Mueller
19 Beyond ‘consensual’ secession? Implicit distinctions and the
object(ive)s of consent 265
Zoran Oklopcic
20 Declarations of independence: a classifcation 279
Argyro Kartsonaki and Aleksandar Pavković
vi
Contents
21 Violent and nonviolent tactics of secession 297
Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham and Caitlin McCulloch
22 Removing the government of the host state: outside military intervention 314
Shpend Kursani
23 International power politics and secession 330
Milena Sterio
24 Surviving without recognition: de facto states 343
Helge Blakkisrud
25 Engagement without recognition 359
Eiki Berg
26 Secession and diplomacy: playing the state, proving the nation 372
R. Joseph Huddleston and Caroline Hall
PART V
Counter-secession strategies 387
27 Countering secession 389
James Ker-Lindsay
28 Secessionist de-mobilization: from ‘exit’ back to ‘voice’ 400
Karlo Basta
29 The strategies of counter-secession: how states prevent independence 413
Peter Krause
30 How parent states prevent recognition 429
Scott Pegg
31 Managing self-determination struggles through decentralization 443
Andreas Juon and Kristin M. Bakke
PART VI
International law and secession 457
32 Self-determination as the basis for a right to secession 459
Brad R. Roth
33 The acquisition of independence and international boundaries 474
Suzanne Lalonde
vii
Contents
34 International law and the break-up of Yugoslavia 491
Thomas D. Grant
35 Article 50 of the treaty on European Union: “seceding” from
the European Union 509
Nikos Skoutaris
PART VII
Constitutional law and secession 523
36 Anti-secession constitutionalism 525
Rivka Weill
37 Constitutional law and secession in the United States 541
Roman J. Hoyos
38 Constitutional law and secession in Australia 553
Thomas D. Musgrave
39 The law of secession in Canada 564
Alyn James Johnson
40 Constitutional law and secession in China: a historical outline 576
Yan Xiang and Yawen Zhang
41 Constitutional law and secession in the United Kingdom 591
Aileen McHarg
42 Constitutional law and secession in Spain 604
Elisenda Casañas-Adam
Index 617
viii
PREFACE
Self-determination and secession are important dynamics in international and domestic politics.
Self-determination, as an idea of self-rule, still shapes the goals and aspirations of numerous
political movements around the world. Secession, as both a process of leaving an existing state
and its endpoint, a new state, is responsible for much more than altering our maps; it is also a
common source of confict. These dynamics are the subject of this handbook, which provides
an interdisciplinary collection on the latest research. The theoretical, conceptual, and practical
dimensions of self-determination and secession are examined by scholars from a range of disci-
plines, including history, philosophy, politics, international relations, and law.
The handbook is divided into seven parts. In the frst introductory part, a set of schol-
ars describe the meaning, emergence, and history of self-determination and secession. Part II
focuses on the normative and legal implications of self-determination across a set of domains.
Part IIIincludes a set of chapters that explore the causes and justifcations for secession. In Parts
IV and V, the authors examine two diferent but related sides of the dynamics of secession:
the strategies of secessionist movements and the counter-secession strategies of states. These
developing research areas are in dialogue with one another. Part VI of the volume centers on
the relationship between international law and secession. Following that, Part VII covers the
domestic and constitutional legal side of secession. This survey of current research on self-de-
termination and secession is certainly not exhaustive. For example, it contains no specifc case
studies of the processes of self-determination or secession. While this was a result of the editorial
decision, the absence of a detailed exploration of popular mobilization for secession and of the
role of nationalist ideologies in this process possibly refects a current absence of research focused
on these topics.
