Is the breakup of an increasingly polarized America into separate red and blue countries even possible? There is a growing interest in American secession. In February 2023, Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that "We need a national divorce...We need to separate by red states and blue states." Recent movements like Yes California have called for a national divorce along political lines. A 2023 Axios poll shows that 20 percent of Americans favor a national divorce. These trends...

Prior to European colonization, the world was thickly populated with hundreds of independent states and vibrant regional state systems. Yet these states are typically excluded from traditional international relations scholarship, which has mostly focused on the European experience.This book provides a groundbreaking comparative analysis of non-Western states and state systems in the nineteenth century. Using an original data set on independent states during this period, Charles R. ...

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.Offering 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 a...

Secession and the Sovereignty Gameoffers a comprehensive strategic theory for how secessionist movements attempt to win independence. Combining original data analysis, fieldwork, interviews with secessionist leaders, and case studies on Catalonia, the Murrawarri Republic, West Papua, Bougainville, New Caledonia, and Northern Cyprus, Ryan D. Griffiths shows how the rules and informal practices of sovereign recognition create a strategic playing fie...

What are the factors that determine how central governments respond to demands for independence? Secessionist movements are numerous and quite varied in form, but the chief obstacle to their ambitions is the state itself, which can deny independence demands, deploy force if need be, and request that the international community respect its territorial integrity by not recognizing the breakaway region. Age of Secession focuses on this crucial but neglected moment in the life of a secessionis...

There is a growing interest in American secession. In February 2023, Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that "We need to separate by red states and blue states." Recent movements like Yes California have called for a national divorce along political lines. A 2023 Axios poll shows that 20 percent of Americans favor a national divorce. These trends show a sincere interest in American secession, and they will likely increase in the aftermath of the 2024 Presidential election.Proponents of...

From London to Libya, from Istanbul to Iceland, there is great interest among comparative constitutional scholars and practitioners about when a proposed constitution is likely to succeed. But what does it mean for a constitution to succeed? Are there universal criteria of success, and which apply across the board? Or, is the choice of criteria entirely idiosyncratic? This edited volume takes on the idea of constitutional success and shows the manifold ways in which it can be understood. I...

Using innovative methods to analyze both advanced democracies and developing countries, Jason Sorens shows how central governments can alleviate or increase ethnic minority demands for regional autonomy. He argues that when countries treat secession as negotiable and provide legal paths to pursuing it rather than absolutely prohibiting independence, violence is far less likely. Additionally, independence movements encourage government policies of decentralization that may be beneficial to ...

At the end of the Cold War, there was much talk of a new world order in which the sovereign state would be held to democratic account, fundamental rights would be respected, and conflict would be replaced by cooperation based on the rule of law. At the start of the new millenium most of this optimism has evaporated.This book examines why it is so difficult to improve standards of international behaviour and explores the pre-conditions for any realistic attempt to do so. It discusse...

Compelling and accessible, this Very Short Introduction challenges the perception of borders as passive lines on a map, revealing them instead to be integral forces in the economic, social, political, and environmental processes that shape our lives. Highlighting the historical development and continued relevance of borders, Alexander Diener and Joshua Hagen offer a powerful counterpoint to the idea of an imminent borderless world, underscoring the impact borders have on a range o...

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to international human rights -- international human rights law, why international human rights have increasingly risen to world prominence, what is being done about violations of human rights, and what might be done to further promote the cause of international human rights so that everyone may one day have their rights respected regardless of who they are or where they live.It explains:how the concept of international ...

Constitutions in authoritarian regimes are often denigrated as meaningless exercises in political theater. Yet the burgeoning literature on authoritarian regimes more broadly has produced a wealth of insights into particular institutions such as legislatures, courts and elections; into regime practices such as co-optation and repression; and into non-democratic sources of accountability. In this vein, this volume explores the form and function of constitutions in countries without the full...