This research companion has three complementary aims. First, to offer an overview of the current theoretical approaches to secession in the social sciences, international relations, legal theory, political theory and applied ethics. Second, to outline the current practice of international recognition of secession and current domestic and international laws which regulate secession. Third, to offer an account of major secessionist movements - past and present - from a comparative perspective.

Aleksandar Pavkovic is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Australia and also at the University of Macau, China. Peter Radan is Professor in Law, Macquarie University, Australia.

Introduction: What Is Secession?; Part I: Introduction to Secession; 1: Secession and International Order; 2: The History of Secession: An Overview; 3: Explaining Secession 1; 4: Changing Borders by Secession: Normative Assessment of Territorial Claims; Part II: Secessions: Past and Present; Introduction to Part II; 5: An Attempt at Secession from an Early Nation-State: The Confederate States of America; 6: The UN Principle of Self-Determination and Secession from Decolonized States: Katanga and Biafra; 7: Constitutional Politics of Secession: Travelling from Quebec to Montenegro (and back?); 8: Secession as a Way of Dissolving Federations: The USSR and Yugoslavia; 9: Kosovo: Secession under UN Supervision; Part III: Secession in Context; Introduction to Part III; 10: Secession from an Economic Perspective: What Is Living and What Is Dead in Economic Interpretations of Secessionism?; 11: Secession and Ethnic Conflict; 12: Secession and Political Violence; 13: International Involvement in Secessionist Conflict: From the 16th Century to the Present; 14: The International Relations of Secession 1; 15: Secession and Contested States 1; Part IV: Secession: Legal Perspectives; Introduction to Part IV; 16: Secession and Territorial Borders: The Role of Law; 17: International Law and the Right of Unilateral Secession; 18: Secession in Constitutional Law; 19: To Constitutionalize or Not? Secession as Materiae Constitutionis; 20: Secession and State Succession; V: Secession: Normative Approaches; Introduction to Part V; 21: Internal Self-Determination and Secession; 22: Remedial Theories of Secession; 23: Choice Theories of Secession; 24: Secession and Domination; 25: The Right to Secede: Do We Really Need It?; Part VI: Secessions and Secessionist Movements in the World; Introduction to Part VI; Asia; Africa; Europe; Rest of the World