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Book Reviews: International Relations
Armed conflict over secession has become the most common type of conflict in the international system since 1980. Jason Sorens's book is an ambitious attempt to explain why secessionist movements occur, why they sometimes turn violent, and what can be done to prevent secessionist rebellion.
Secessionism attempts to build a positive theory of secession based on three factors: identity, interest, and strategy. In practice, this book addresses contexts in which ethno-nationalist identity is already established, and although the author devotes some time to discussing identity, he does not really endeavor to add to the debate over identity creation or the principles of nationalism more broadly.
Instead, the crux of the book's arguments center on defining when it is in the interest of minority groups to seek secession, and how the strategic environment between states and minorities influences both minority group choices and state actions toward them. Sorens makes two central arguments along these lines, which culminate in the quite novel conclusion that states should constitutionalize secession. First, minorities will seek secession when they see net benefits to doing so (and Sorens then elaborates the conditions under which that is likely). Second, the credibility problem inherent in government/minority group interaction (wherein the minority cannot trust the government to favor them in the future) will lead these disputes down the road to armed conflict via the security dilemma.
These two arguments both underpin a relatively radical recommendation that comes out of the study--that governments should create a clear, legal path to secession in order to deter secessionism. Sorens argues that a right to secession (at least informally within a state) will decrease the need for secession by minority groups and lessen the chance we will see it. This argument...