Editing Secession (section)

=== Explanations for the 20th century increase in secessionism ===
According to political scientist Bridget L. Coggins, the academic literature contains four potential explanations for the drastic increase in secessions during the 20th century:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coggins |first=Bridget |date=2011 |title=Friends in High Places: International Politics and the Emergence of States from Secessionism |journal=International Organization |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=433–467 |doi=10.1017/S0020818311000105 |issn=1531-5088 |s2cid=145424331}}</ref> 
* Ethnonational mobilization, where ethnic minorities have been increasingly mobilized to pursue states of their own.
* Institutional empowerment, where the growing inability of empires and ethnic federations to maintain colonies and member states increases the likelihood of success.
* Relative strength, where increasingly powerful secessionist movements are more likely to achieve statehood.
* Negotiated consent, where home states and the international community increasingly consent to secessionist demands.

Other scholars have linked secession to resource discoveries and extraction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gehring |first1=Kai |last2=Schneider |first2=Stephan A. |date=2020 |title=Regional resources and democratic secessionism |journal=Journal of Public Economics |volume=181 |pages=104073 |doi=10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.104073 |issn=0047-2727 |doi-access=free|hdl=10419/185534 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> David B. Carter, H. E. Goemans, and Ryan Griffiths find that border changes among states tend to conform to the borders of previous administrative units.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=David B. |last2=Goemans |first2=H. E. |date=2011 |title=The Making of the Territorial Order: New Borders and the Emergence of Interstate Conflict |journal=International Organization |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=275–309 |doi=10.1017/S0020818311000051 |issn=0020-8183 |jstor=23016813 |s2cid=54863822}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griffiths |first=Ryan D. |date=2015 |title=Between Dissolution and Blood: How Administrative Lines and Categories Shape Secessionist Outcomes |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818315000077/type/journal_article |journal=International Organization |language=en |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=731–751 |doi=10.1017/S0020818315000077 |issn=0020-8183 |s2cid=154530138|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Abramson |first1=Scott F. |last2=Carter |first2=David B. |date=2016 |title=The Historical Origins of Territorial Disputes |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055416000381/type/journal_article |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=110 |issue=4 |pages=675–698 |doi=10.1017/S0003055416000381 |issn=0003-0554 |s2cid=152201006|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Several scholars argue that changes in the international system have made it easier for small states to survive and prosper.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Thorhallsson |first1=Baldur |title=Small State Foreign Policy |date=2017-05-24 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313769977 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics |access-date=2020-05-02 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.484 |isbn=978-0-19-022863-7 |last2=Steinsson |first2=Sverrir}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Fazal |first1=Tanisha M. |last2=Griffiths |first2=Ryan D. |date=2014 |title=Membership Has Its Privileges: The Changing Benefits of Statehood |url=https://academic.oup.com/isr/article/16/1/79/1790899 |journal=International Studies Review |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=79–106 |doi=10.1111/misr.12099 |issn=1521-9488|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Alesina |first=Alberto |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/size-nations |title=The Size of Nations |date=7 November 2003 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262012041 |language=en |access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Thorhallsson |first=Baldur |title="The Small State in International Relations" from Small States and Shelter Theory: Iceland's External Affairs (Routledge, 2019) |pages=13–23 |year=2018 |access-date=2020-05-02 |chapter=The small state in international relations |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339107030 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780429463167-2 |isbn=978-0-429-46316-7 |s2cid=240133027}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lake |first1=David A. |last2=O’mahony |first2=Angela |date=2004 |title=The Incredible Shrinking State |journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution |volume=48 |issue=5 |pages=699–722 |doi=10.1177/0022002704267766 |issn=0022-0027 |s2cid=8619491}}</ref> [[Tanisha Fazal]] and Ryan Griffiths link increased numbers of secessions to an international system that is more favorable for new states. For example, new states can obtain assistance from international organizations such as the [[International Monetary Fund]], [[World Bank]], and the [[United Nations]].<ref name=":2" /> [[Alberto Alesina]] and Enrico Spolaore argue that greater levels of free trade and peace have reduced the benefits of being part of a larger state, thus motivating nations within larger states to seek secession.<ref name=":3" />

[[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points|proclamations on self-determination in 1918]] created a surge in secessionist demands.<ref name=":2" />