Political Divorce of Peoples: A Search for a Right to Secession in International Law and Normative International Relations Theory

This thesis looks at the problem of secession in international relations. An opening section defines secession, exposes hypocrisy on this issue, and makes a case for the significance of the issue. Next, I turn to a search for answers to three closely related questions on the right to secession. First I ask, what is the status of a right to secession in international law? I frame my search around the right to self-determination and find that, while a right to self-determination does still exist in international law, it no longer contains a sub-right to secession or independence. Next I look for a right to secession in normative international relations theory: what normative theories of a right to secession have normative international relations theorists developed. I find four distinct categories, provide examples, and arrange them on an ideological continuum. In my concluding chapter, I look at the various issues and concerns that one would need to take into account to develop a feasible and complete right to secession, with attention to what is politically possible at the international level.