Contents: Introduction, Aleksandar Pavkovic; Secession: a word in search of a meaning, Peter Radan; Neo-liberal globalisation, nationalism, and changed 'conditions of possibility' for secessionist mobilisation, Lloyd Cox; Secession and state recognition in international relations and law, Mikulas Fabry; New norms, old boundaries: the African Union's approach to secession and state sovereignty, Kathryn Sturman; The way opened, the way blocked: assessing the contrasting fates of Chechnya and Kosovo, James Headley; Secessionist legitimacy: a comparative analysis, Damien Kingsbury; Self-determination and secession: a moral theory perspective, Aris Gounaris; Consensual secession in Montenegro - towards good practice?, Miodrag Jovanovic; Consensual secession of Montenegro - towards good practice? The collective moral agency of secessionist groups, Constantinos Laoutides; The first secessionists, Tom Hillard; Index.

Associate Professor Aleksandar Pavkovic and Peter Radan are both based at Macquarie University, Australia.

The present international order is characterized by the rapid globalization of economic activity, by systematic attempts to coordinate state responses to the outbreaks of violence and by unilateral military interventions against sovereign states either by the USA or by one of its regional allies. This collection explores the changes that the current international order has brought to the theory and practice of recognition of secessionist claims and to the conditions for secessionist mobilization. The volume examines how independence movements achieve legitimacy amongst both their target populations and outside states, and how the forces of increasing economic globalization and political interdependence impact on secessionist mobilization. It addresses how the outside states recognize the independence of new states and whether the claims to independent statehood can be justified within normative theories of secession and international law. These issues are explored both through comparative analysis within legal, international relations and political science frameworks and through an examination of several recent attempts at secession.