In Secession and Security, Ahsan I. Butt argues that states rather than separatists determine whether a secessionist struggle will be peaceful, violent, or genocidal. He investigates the strategies, ranging from negotiated concessions to large-scale repression, adopted by states in response to separatist movements. Variations in the external security environment, Butt argues, influenced the leaders of the Ottoman Empire to use peaceful concessions against Armenians in 1908 but escalated to genocide against the same community in 1915; caused Israel to reject a Palestinian state in the 1990s; and shaped peaceful splits in Czechoslovakia in 1993 and the Norway-Sweden union in 1905. Butt focuses on two main cases—Pakistani reactions to Bengali and Baloch demands for independence in the 1970s and India's responses to secessionist movements in Kashmir, Punjab, and Assam in the 1980s and 1990s. Butt's deep historical approach to his subject will appeal to policymakers and observers interested in the last five decades of geopolitics in South Asia, the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and ethno-national conflict, separatism, and nationalism more generally.

"The book is an excellent addition to the scholarly literature on subnational movements, both past and present, offering a range of insights to policymakers across the globe."--Ayesha Jalal, author of The Struggle for Pakistan "With judicious use of empirical evidence and rich case studies, Ahsan I. Butt makes a compelling case that states'...

An examination of the reasons independence movements remain peaceful or become violent

The political impulse to secede - to attempt to separate from central government control - is a conspicuous feature of the post-cold war world. It is alive and growing in Canada, Russia, China, Italy, Belgium, Britain, and even the United States Yet secession remains one of the least studied and least understood of all historical and political phenomena. The contributors to this volume have filled this gap with wide-ranging investigations - rooted in history, political philosophy, ethics, and economic theory - of secessionist movements in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Millions of American families from every race, creed, and economic background are losing hope as the United States continues slide deeper into fiscal insanity and moral decay. Where will America stand when we lose our traditional values, border security, and limited government? Having gained insight from industry experts in farming, energy, infrastructure, and finance, author Douglas MacKinnon has outlined one alternative to our existing government in an entirely constitutional and legal approach—secession from the United States of America. President Abraham Lincoln once said, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.” With this patriotic wisdom of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson in mind, MacKinnon also works in conjunction with a team of highly experienced individuals from Special-Ops, intelligence, the military, and constitutional law to provide you with the answers to why, how, when, and where as he outlines what secessionism would bring. Using maps, charts, and excerpts of previously published materials to supplement his own interviews and research, MacKinnon has written a powerful, one-of-a-kind book that will initiate conversation—and movement—throughout the country.

A novel analysis of secessionist movements, explaining state response, the likelihood of conflict, and the proliferation of states since 1945.

About half of today’s nation-states originated as some kind of breakaway state. The end of the Cold War witnessed a resurgence of separatist activity affecting nearly every part of the globe and stimulated a new generation of scholars to consider separatism and secession. With the approach of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, this collection of essays allows us to view one of the bloodiest conflicts over secession in modern history within a broader international context. The contributors to this volume consider a wide range of topics related to secession, separatism, and the nationalist passions that inflame such conflicts. The first section of the book examines ethical and moral dimensions of secession, while subsequent sections look at the American Civil War, conflicts in the Gulf of Mexico, European separatism, and conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The contributors to this book have no common position advocating or opposing secession in principle or in any particular case. All understand it, however, as a common feature of the modern world and as a historic phenomenon of international scope. Some contributors propose that “political divorce,” as secession has come to be called, ought to be subject to rational arbitration and ethical norms, instead of being decided by force. Along with these hopes for the future, Secession as an International Phenomenon offers a somber reminder of the cost the United States paid when reason failed and war was left to resolve the issue.