Editing Secession (section)

== Philosophy of secession ==
The [[political philosophy]] of the rights and moral justification for secession began to develop as recently as the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book|title=On the Way to Statehood: Secession and Globalisation|last1=Pavkovic|first1=Aleksandar|last2=Radan|first2=Peter|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2008|isbn=9780754673798|location=Burlington, VT|pages=133}}</ref> American philosopher [[Allen Buchanan]] offered the first systematic account of the subject in the 1990s and contributed to the [[normative]] classification of the literature on secession. In his 1991 book ''Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec'', Buchanan outlined limited rights to secession under certain circumstances, mostly related to oppression by people of other ethnic or racial groups, and especially those previously conquered by other people.<ref name="BuchananBook">Allen Buchanan, ''Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec'', West View Press, 1991.</ref> In his collection of essays from secession scholars, ''Secession, State, and Liberty'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gordon|first=David|date=February 28, 2002|title=Secession, State, and Liberty|publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=0765809435}}</ref> professor David Gordon challenges Buchanan, making a case that the moral status of the seceding state is unrelated to the issue of secession itself.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gordon|first=David|date=December 5, 2012|title=Is Secession a Right?|url=https://mises.org/library/secession-right|website=Mises Institute}}</ref>

===Justifications for secession===
Some theories of secession emphasize a general right of secession for any reason ("Choice Theory") while others emphasize that secession should be considered only to rectify grave injustices ("Just Cause Theory").<ref>Allen Buchanan, [http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p98792_index.html How can We Construct a Political Theory of Secession?], paper presented October 5, 2006 to the [[International Studies Association]].</ref> Some theories do both. A list of justifications may be presented supporting the right to secede, as described by Allen Buchanan, Robert McGee, [[Anthony Birch]],<ref>Anthony H. Birch, "Another Liberal Theory of Secession". Political Studies 32, 1984, 596–602.</ref> [[Jane Jacobs]],<ref>Jane Jacobs, ''Cities and the Wealth of Nations'', Vintage, 1985.</ref> Frances Kendall and [[Leon Louw]],<ref>Frances Kendall and Leon Louw, ''After Apartheid: The Solution for South Africa'', Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1987. One of several popular books they wrote about canton-based constitutional alternatives that include an explicit right to secession.</ref> [[Leopold Kohr]],<ref>[[Leopold Kohr]], ''The Breakdown of Nations'', Routledge & K. Paul, 1957</ref> [[Kirkpatrick Sale]],<ref>''Human Scale'', Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980.</ref> Donald W. Livingston<ref>{{Cite book|last=Livingston|first=Donald|title=The Secession Tradition in America|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=1998|isbn=1-56000-362-6|location=New Jersey|pages=17–49}}</ref> and various authors in David Gordon's "Secession, State and Liberty", includes:
* United States [[President of the United States|President]] [[James Buchanan]], Fourth Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union December 3, 1860: "The fact is that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it cannot live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force."
* Former President [[Thomas Jefferson]], in a letter to [[William H. Crawford]], [[US Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] under President [[James Madison]], on June 20, 1816: "In your letter to Fisk, you have fairly stated the alternatives between which we are to choose: 1, licentious commerce and gambling speculations for a few, with eternal war for the many; or, 2, restricted commerce, peace, and steady occupations for all. If any State in the Union will declare that it prefers separation with the first alternative, to a continuance in union without it, I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate.' I would rather the States should withdraw, which are for unlimited commerce and war, and confederate with those alone which are for peace and agriculture."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/writingsofthomas10jeffiala/writingsofthomas10jeffiala_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "The writings of Thomas Jefferson;"|work=archive.org|access-date=12 August 2015}}</ref>
* Economic enfranchisement of an economically oppressed class that is regionally concentrated within the scope of a larger national territory.
* The right to [[liberty]], [[freedom of association]] and [[private property]]
* Recognition of the will of the majority to secede, in keeping with consent as an important democratic principle
* Increased ease for states to join with others in an experimental union
* Dissolution of such a union when goals for which it was constituted are not achieved
* [[Self-defense]] when larger group presents lethal threat to minority or the government cannot adequately defend an area
* [[Self-determination]] of peoples
* Preservation of culture, language, etc. from assimilation or destruction by a larger or more powerful group
* Furtherance of diversity by allowing diverse cultures to keep their [[identity politics|identity]]
* Rectification of past injustices, especially past conquest by a larger power
* Escape from "discriminatory redistribution", i.e. tax schemes, regulatory policies, economic programs, and similar policies that distribute resources away to another area, especially in an undemocratic fashion
* Enhanced efficiency when the state or empire becomes too large to administer efficiently
* Preservation of "liberal purity" (or "conservative purity") by allowing less (or more) liberal regions to secede
* Provision of superior constitutional systems which allow flexibility of secession
* Minimizing the size of political entities and the [[human scale]] through right to secession

Political scientist Aleksander Pavkovic describes five justifications for a general right of secession within liberal political theory:<ref name="Pavkovic-Questions">Aleksandar Pavkovic, [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MqLJ/2003/5.html Secession, Majority Rule and Equal Rights: a Few Questions], [[Macquarie University]] Law Journal, 2003.</ref>
* [[Anarcho-capitalism|Anarcho-Capitalism]]: individual liberty to form political associations and private property rights together justify right to secede and to create a "viable political order" with like-minded individuals.
* Democratic Secessionism: the right of secession, as a variant of the right of self-determination, is vested in a "territorial community" which wishes to secede from "their existing political community"; the group wishing to secede then proceeds to delimit "its" territory by the majority.
* Communitarian Secessionism: any group with a particular "participation-enhancing" identity, concentrated in a particular territory, which desires to improve its members' political participation has a ''[[prima facie]]'' right to secede.
* Cultural Secessionism: any group which was previously in a minority has a right to protect and develop its own culture and distinct national identity through seceding into an independent state.
* The Secessionism of Threatened Cultures: if a minority culture is threatened within a state that has a majority culture, the minority needs a right to form a state of its own which would protect its culture.

=== Arguments against secession ===
Allen Buchanan, who supports secession under limited circumstances, lists arguments that might be used against secession:<ref>Allen Buchanan, ''Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce From Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec'', Chapter 3, pp. 87–123.</ref>
* "Protecting legitimate expectations" of those who now occupy territory claimed by secessionists, even in cases where that land was stolen
* "Self defense" if losing part of the state would make it difficult to defend the rest of it
* "Protecting majority rule" and the principle that minorities must abide by them
* "Minimization of strategic bargaining" by making it difficult to secede, such as by imposing an exit tax
* "Soft paternalism" because secession will be bad for secessionists or others
* "Threat of anarchy" because smaller and smaller entities may choose to secede until there is chaos, although this is not the true meaning of the political and philosophical concept
* "Preventing wrongful taking" such as the state's previous investment in infrastructure
* "Distributive justice" arguments  posit that wealthier areas cannot secede from poorer ones