ABSTRACT
Rainer Baubock has vigorously argued a general democratic presumption against secession on grounds of territorial stability, democratic diversity and mutual recognition. Proponents of the theory of democratic secession make a central normative point of the critique to the preference and prevalence of the status quo. Behind majoritarianism as the foundation of secession there may be some moral foundation; for instance, the alienation argument. Secession fits easily within the category of events that even if democratically decided, may affect third parties beyond the one taking the decisions. The central assumption behind the association of majority rule and democracy is that majorities and minorities are not permanent in democracy and both will define and redefine themselves once and again through electoral processes. The democratic reversibility paradox goes beyond secession itself to affect any democratic decision: in fact, decisions transform reality in some way.
