Do Successful Secession Movements Have to Be Democratic?
At the End of the Day, Splitting Up Your Country Requires Everyone to Agree on the Rules
How should countries split themselves up?
Democratically, of course. But saying that is only a start to answering a complicated and difficult question.
And it’s an urgent question, because recently there has been an increase in the number of movements for national self-determination and secession. Worldwide, between 1994-2017, I found 55 referendums registered, from Catalonia to Scotland, New Zealand to the Falklands, from Quebec to Iraqi Kurdistan. Most involved not full independence but rather a change in the political status of a state, or a separation or an integration of territory within …
