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Concept
Secession
Summary
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals. It is a process, which commences once a group proclaims the act of secession (e.g. declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent from the group or territory it seceded from.
Prominent examples of secession and secession attempts include the Confederate States of America seceding from the Union, the former Soviet republics leaving the Soviet Union after its dissolution, Texas leaving Mexico during the Texas Revolution, Biafra leaving Nigeria and returning after losing the Nigerian Civil War, and Ireland leaving the United Kingdom.
There is no consensus regarding the definition of political secession, and there are many new political theories on the subject.
According to the 2017 book Secession and Security by political scientist Ahsan Butt, states respond violently to secessionist movements if the potential state would pose a greater threat than a violent secessionist movement would. States perceive future war as likely with a potentially new state if the ethnic group driving the secessionist struggle has deep identity division with the central state, and if the regional neighbourhood is violent and unstable.
According to political scientist Bridget L. Coggins, there are four potential explanations in the academic literature for the drastic increase in state birth during the 20th century:
Ethnonational mobilization – Ethnic minorities have been increasingly mobilized to pursue states of their own.
Institutional empowerment – The growing inability of empires and ethnic federations to maintain colonies and member states.
Relative strength – Increasingly powerful secessionist movements are more likely to achieve statehood.
Negotiated consent – Home states and the international community increasingly consent to secessionist demands.
Other scholars have linked secession to resource discoveries and extraction.
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