To secede is to formally withdraw from a political union, such as a state, a federation or a country, usually to become independent.
Historical proponents:James Madison, Henry David Thoreau, Mikhail BakuninA region whose people vote for independence should be free to .
Nothing is sent anywhere.
Secession is the act of a region or group leaving the country it belongs to. It can be negotiated and peaceful, as with the Czech and Slovak split in 1993, or contested and violent. Most national constitutions do not provide a right to secede, and international law treats a state’s territorial integrity as a core principle.
Debates over secession usually set a region’s right to self-determination against the country’s right to remain whole. Examples range from the American Civil War, which began when Southern states tried to secede, to Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum and Catalonia’s contested 2017 referendum.
Influential figures in the 12 axes thinker pool who advocated, analyzed or shaped ideas around this concept.
Statesman · 1751–1836
Principal drafter of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the fourth president, who argued that dividing and balancing power protects liberty.
“Federalist No. 39 calls the new government neither wholly federal nor wholly national.”
American essayist & naturalist · 1817–1862
An American essayist who lived at Walden Pond, spent a night in jail rather than pay a poll tax, and wrote Civil Disobedience on resisting unjust government.
“Individual conscience and local autonomy supersede national state edicts.”
Russian anarchist · 1814–1876
A Russian revolutionary who argued that the state and organised religion must be abolished together, and who fell out with Marx in the First International.
“Complete destruction of the sovereign state in favor of free autonomous communes.”
Real cases that people point to when they use the word.
Czechoslovakia’s 1993 “velvet divorce” into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which was negotiated and peaceful.
Scotland’s 2014 referendum, agreed by the UK government, in which voters chose to stay by 55% to 45%.
Catalonia’s 2017 referendum, which Spain’s courts ruled unconstitutional.
South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011 after a referendum.
Reasonable people disagree about this. These are the strongest points made on each side.
The test asks about it in a statement. Your answer moves one axis score.
Agreeing that a region whose people vote for independence should be free to secede moves your score toward the Federal side of the Federal vs Unitary axis, because it favors regional self-rule over a single central authority.
Which way agreeing pushes the score
Agreeing with a statement about secession moves your score toward Federal.
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Three statements gave you a first reading. The full test scores all twelve axes and finds your closest countries and ideologies.