Editing Secession (section)

{{Short description|Formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity}}
{{Other uses}}
'''Secession''' is the formal withdrawal of a group from a [[Polity|political entity]].  The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a [[declaration of independence]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Secession|last1=Pavkovic|first1=Aleksandar|last2=Radan|first2=Peter|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2013|isbn=9780754677024|location=Burlington, VT|pages=3}}</ref> A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent of the group or territory from which it seceded.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Pavkovic |first1=Aleksandar |title=Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession |last2=Radan |first2=Peter |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=9780754671633 |location=Burlington, VT |pages=6}}</ref> Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.<ref name="Buchanan2">[[Allen Buchanan]], [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/secession/ "Secession"], [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], 2007.</ref> There is some academic debate about this definition, and in particular how it relates to [[separatism]], as has been discussed online.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/3911/discussions/90459/secessionism-and-separatism-monthly-series-secession-and/|title=Secessionism and Separatism Monthly Series: "Secession and Secessionism" by Alexandar Pavković - H-Nationalism - H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2016-03-21|archive-date=2016-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401032718/https://networks.h-net.org/node/3911/discussions/90459/secessionism-and-separatism-monthly-series-secession-and/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Notable examples of secession, and secession attempts, include:

* The [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces of the Netherlands]] breaking away from the [[Spanish Empire]] during the [[Eighty Years' War]] (1566-1648):
* The [[Thirteen Colonies]] (the later [[United States]]) revolting from the [[British Empire]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] (1775-83);
* [[Hispanic America]] gaining independence from the [[Spanish Empire]] during [[Spanish American wars of independence]];
* [[Texas]] leaving Mexico, during the [[Texas Revolution]] (1835-36);
* the [[Confederate States of America]] seceding from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]], setting off the [[American Civil War]];
* [[Panama]] [[Secession of Panama from Colombia|seceding]] from [[Colombia]] in 1903, during [[United States]] acquisition of the [[Panama Canal]];
* the [[Irish Republic]] leaving the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]];
* [[Independence of Finland|Finland voting to leave Soviet Russia]] in 1917, setting off the [[Finnish Civil War]];
* [[Biafra]] leaving Nigeria (and returning, after losing the [[Nigerian Civil War]]);
* the former [[republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]] leaving the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, causing its [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution]];
* the former [[Administrative divisions of Yugoslavia|republics]] leaving [[Yugoslavia]] during the 1990s, causing its [[breakup of Yugoslavia|dissolution]].