ABSTRACT
Secession movements and attempts at secession also generate the political and ideological controversy. Secessionists often cite political, moral and economic reasons which justify their attempts at secessions while their opponents, anti-secessionists, cite reasons of the same kind in order to show that these attempts are wrong, harmful or without any justification. Yet in controversies concerning the justification of secessions, secessionists and their opponents on occasion refer to both United Nation (UN) conventions and resolutions and to constitutional documents of the host state. This chapter focuses on a variety of legal documents - court judgments, constitutional laws and UN resolutions - all of which concern attempts to withdraw territories and populations from the jurisdiction of sovereign and independent states. It deals with the social and political conditions and processes which lead to - or cause - secessions.
