ABSTRACT
This volume purports to explore the legal and political issues triggered by the new wave of secessionism. More specifically, those issues concern the interplay between notions of democracy (and democratic ends and means) and law (and the rule of law and constitutionalism). Against this background, the editors use amorality in order to escape the terrain of the justification of secession by making a distinction between the democratic theory of secession and the theory of democratic secession. In the first section, the theoretical nexus democracy-secession has been approached both from a legal and political theory perspective. The second section of the book examines the instruments that the theory of democratic secession invokes in order to justify secession and presents both legal and political science contributions. The third section focuses on social movements and political actors. The fourth section focuses on two case studies due to the awareness of the importance of the difference between secession in a democratic occidental context (which call into play the discussion of the democratic theories) and separations in a non-democratic context (where the nexus between secession and democracy is not really central).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|1 pages
The theoretical nexus democracy – secession
chapter 3|20 pages
Secession v forceful union
part II|1 pages
The instruments of the theory of democratic secession
chapter 7|28 pages
Sovereignty referendums: A question of majority?
part III|1 pages
Non-institutional actors
chapter 9|18 pages
The framing of secessionism in the neo-liberal crisis
part IV|1 pages
Case studies