ABSTRACT
Movements for secession typically originate in non-violent political activity, including
petitions to the existing state for greater autonomy of the local political community. If
that community perceives itself as a separate nation, it may harbour ambitions for full
independence, establishment of its own nation-state, and control over its economic
resources. If peaceful petitions for autonomy are met with violent repression on the part
of state authorities, the embattled community is likely to be reinforced in its sense of
nationhood-intense threat can produce a homogenizing effect, forcing people for
safety’s sake to give priority to their ‘national’ identity over all others-and further con-
vinced that coexistence in a single state with its oppressors is impossible. It will seek to
arm itself and attract outside support for its cause of self-determination and national inde-
pendence. The nation’s fate at that point becomes a test of arms.
