Abstract: The book focuses on four key themes that are central to the ethics of secession. The first examines the application of ‘choice’ and of remedial ‘just cause’ normative arguments on secession. The second discusses the problem of violence in secessionist struggles and the ensuing relationship between just war theory and the ethics of secession. The third problem is the relationship between nationhood and citizenship, and, in particular, the question of applying what has now become a conventional distinction between ethnic and civic representations of the political community. Finally, the contentious issue of sovereignty and the way that it frames debates about self-determination is analysed. Theoretical debates about secession are interwoven with 10 case studies (Italy and the Lega Nord, Corsica, Cyprus, Ireland, Yugoslavia, Tatarstan, Chechnya, Abkhazia, Taiwan, and Quebec) to provide an original analysis of the normative and empirical issues raised by contemporary secessionist struggles.

Keywords: Abkhazia, Chechnya, Corsica, Cyprus, ethnic conflicts, Lega Nord, nationalism, Quebec, secession, self-determination, Taiwan, Tatarstan, Yugoslavia