Strategies of Secession and Counter-secession

Secessionism is a common feature in international life. As of 2011, there were 55 active secessionist movements around the world (Griffiths 2016). From Catalonia to Kurdistan to Kosovo, nations have tried to secede from their host states with varying degrees of success. These challenges represent the aspirations of stateless nations to gain independence, and they have value. But they also represent challenges to political order both within states and across the international system. In normative terms, this is contest between the right of stateless nations to self-determination and the right of states to maintain their territorial integrity (Osterud 1997; Fabry 2010; Griffiths 2017). Intra-state war has been a common outcome of this contest, implicated in about 50% of the civil wars in modern times (Sorens 2012, 3). Indeed, Walter has argued provocatively that secessionism is the chief source of violence in the world today, and Chenoweth and Stephan (2011) have concluded that the employment of violence may be a useful strategy for secessionists. The dynamics of secession (and counter-secession) are a complex and evolving set of phenomena, and a wide range of political scientists and IR scholars are now studying these relationships at the local, national, and international levels (Fabry 2010; Coggins 2014; Cunningham 2014; Bakke 2015. Regrettably, much less research has been devoted to examining the interactions between the domestic and international level and how these affect the development, mobilization, and strategies practiced by contemporary secessionist movements (Griffiths 2015; 2016; Muro & Vlaskamp 2016). That is, there is a notable divide in the research coming out of comparative politics – which typically focuses on specific movements and their contest with the state – and the work in international relations – which usually centers on the legal, normative, and diplomatic practices of the international community. These areas of research need to be brought into one unified discourse if we are to fully understand the dynamics of secession and counter-secession. This workshop will examine the ways in which the strategies of secession and counter-secession have been shaped by contemporary international and domestic politics (Ker-Lindsay 2012; Sorens 2012; Sterio 2013; Fazal and Griffiths 2014; Coggins 2014). The participants will be invited to answer the following research questions. Why is violence sometimes the result of secessionist activity? How does domestic support interact with the international context? What are the strategies that secessionist movements adopt when seeking independence, and how do they vary? How do secessionist leaders gain legitimacy in the eyes of their local, national, and international audiences, and does the success at one level compromise success at the other? How do changes in international norms and great power politics influence the strategies and success rates of independence efforts? How do regional organizations like the European Union affect secessionist outcomes? This workshop will explore these questions by drawing on a diverse body of scholars interested in secession, from both the field of comparative politics and international relations. The workshop has been endorsed by both the ECPR Standing Group on International Relations (SGIR) and the ECPR Standing Group on Political Violence (SGPV). Expected outcomes The workshop will result in two outcomes: 1. The development of a network of scholars from different sub-disciplines of political science and regional universities focused on the topic of secession. 2. The publication of the papers from the workshop in an edited volume (e.g., special issue in peer-reviewed journal or edited book) that will attract an interdisciplinary audience. Potential funding Funding would be sought by applying to national and international agencies, including the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Australian Research Council (ARC). Junior scholar participants can apply to the grants and scholarships who participate in ECPR organized or sponsored activities. Biographical notes Ryan Griffiths is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. His primary research area focuses on the dynamics of secession with a particular emphasis on the international and domestic causes of secessionist conflict over time. He is the author of Age of Secession: the International and Domestic Determinants of State Birth (Cambridge University Press), and he published related articles in International Studies Review, Review of International Studies, Nations and Nationalism, International Organization, among others. He is currently working on a book about the strategy of secession. Diego Muro is Lecturer in International Relations at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), University of St Andrews. His main research interests are political violence, ethno-nationalist conflict and comparative politics. He is the author of Ethnicity and Violence: The Case of Radical Basque Nationalism (Routledge, 2008) and co-editor of both Politics and Memory of the Transition: The Spanish Model (Routledge, 2011) and From Bullets to Ballots: The End of ETA (Routledge, 2017). He is currently working on another volume on the effectiveness of terrorism that will be published by Routledge in 2017. He has published in journals such as: Ethnic and Radical Studies, Ethnicities, Mediterranean Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Nations and Nationalism, Politics, South European Society & Politics, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and West European Politics. References • Armitage, David. 2007. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. • Aspinall, Edward. 2007. The Construction of Grievance: Natural Resources and Identity in a Separatist Conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution 51(6): 571-585. • Bakke, Kristin. 2015. Decentralization and Intrastate Struggles: Chechnya, Punjab, and Québec. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Bartkus, Viva Ona. 1999. The Dynamic of Secession. Cambridge: Cambridge University Studies. • Beissinger, Mark R. 2002. 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