ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a conceptual framework for analyzing regional separatism. In strictly legal terms the means the assertion of sovereignty and, at least in principle, the recognition of that sovereignty by other members of the international community. Interregional links are replaced by international links. Despite occasional practical difficulties—for example, the case of Taiwan, or Rhodesia between 1965 and 1980, or indeed Canada before 1931— the strictly legal definition of separation is both clearcut and simple; a state is either recognized as sovereign or it is not. The level of economic integration, defined here as the absence of institutional barriers to trade and to factor movements between the regions of the system. The importance of systemwide economic policies and institutions to which the region is subject, including and in addition to those needed to ensure economic integration.
