The Philosophy of Secession

This won't make it into anyone's "light reading" list, but it's worth noting as yet another signpost of the new world we're in. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy doesn't add new categories unless the need is overwhelming, and, as this introduction makes clear, the topic of secession as a philosophical theory has attained its own sense of urgency. We couldn't agree more.

Until quite recently secession has been a neglected topic among philosophers. Two factors may explain why philosophers have now begun to turn their attention to secession. First, in the past decade there has been a great increase not only in the number of attempted secessions, but also in successful secessions, and philosophers may simply be reacting to this new reality, attempting to make normative sense of it. Second, in the same decade the idea that there is a strong case for some form of self-government for groups presently contained within states has gained ground. Once one begins to take seriously the case for special group rights for minorities — especially if these include rights of self-government — it is difficult to avoid the question of whether some such groups may be entitled to full independence.