ABSTRACT
Secession necessarily entails the redrawing of political borders. Separatist movements do not only desire to leave the existing state, but to assume control over parts of its territory. Therefore, any justification of a moral right to secede must address two closely connected questions. It must, firstly, explain how states or separatist groups may acquire (and lose) the right to govern a particular stretch of land. Secondly, it must provide criteria for the localization of borders and, thereby, for the precise scope of the territory claimed by both parties.
