What is secession, and who decides whether a region can leave a country?
Most countries' constitutions say nothing about letting a region leave, and many forbid it outright.
is when part of a country withdraws, without the whole country's agreement, to form a separate state or to join another one. Who decides whether a region may do that depends mostly on the country's own constitution, and most constitutions say no. Most sovereign states do not recognize a right to secede, and many expressly forbid it. International law generally neither recognizes a broad right of secession nor absolutely prohibits it.
A few places have written the right into their rules. As of 1996, the constitutions of Austria, Ethiopia, France, and Saint Kitts and Nevis had express or implied rights to . After a referendum in 2003, every municipality in Liechtenstein can secede by a majority vote of its resident citizens. The Soviet constitution guaranteed each republic the right to leave, but when Lithuania declared independence in 1990 and other republics followed, the central government refused to recognize them, and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
Choice Theory
- A general right to secede for any reason
Just Cause Theory
- Only to rectify grave injustices
Where the rules are silent, courts and parliaments have often looked to the whole country. In 1933 the British Parliament held that Western Australia could leave only if a majority of all Australians agreed, so Western Australia's own two-thirds vote was not enough. In 1869 the US Supreme Court said a state could leave only through revolution or through the consent of the other states. In 1998 the Supreme Court of Canada said Quebec could leave only after both a clear majority in the province and a confirmed by all participants.
That is why a referendum on leaving is rarely the end of the story. It can show what voters in a region want, but whether it changes a border depends on who else must agree.
Step 1: The constitution
Some allow it (Liechtenstein municipalities), most do not
Step 2: The wider country
Western Australia 1933, Texas 1869, Quebec 1998
Step 3: Other countries
Kosovo 2008: recognized by around 100
Quiz me
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Recap
Where constitutions are silent or say no, leaving usually needs the consent of the wider country, or a clear rule that allows it.
π‘ A trick to remember it Β· A region's vote is a knock on the door; the rules and the rest of the house decide whether it opens.
Surprising fact Β· Western Australia voted two-thirds for secession in 1933, but the British Parliament held that a majority of all Australia was needed.
Connects to
- βοΈ What did Canada's Supreme Court and the Clarity Act say about a province leaving?
- π³οΈ What is a referendum, and how is it different from a vote in parliament?
- ποΈ Why was British India split into two countries in 1947?
- π Did one 1648 peace treaty really invent the modern state?
- π§ Why did new countries keep the borders their colonisers drew?
Sources (1)
No source, no claim. Every fact in this lesson (16 claims) cites at least one of these.