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 contributors employ comparative analysis within legal, international relations and political science frameworks and examine several recent attempts at secession.

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.