ABSTRACT
The moral status of secession should be a significant issue in contemporary political theory. Various secessionist movements around the globe have had a tremendous impact on world politics, and the fluidity of power relations in many parts of the world suggests that they will continue to have such an effect for some time. This chapter develops a normative foundation for a right of secession consisting of two basic elements. The first is a treatment of value from the perspective of normative individualism. The second element is a contractualist ethical argument that establishes a moral presumption favoring a constitutional or procedural right of secession. The chapter examines the conditions under which secession might be justifiably prohibited, and shows that the right of secession is a limited one. Ethical limits on the right of secession are part of the moral input associated with the right's justification, and are established in the same manner as the right itself.
