Obstacles and passages to secession in liberal-democratic contexts. Lessons from Catalonia

Abstract

This paper aims to show that secession, especially if unilateral, is difficult in contexts of liberal democracy. The empirical difficulties may, however, ease the normative recognition of a right to secede. After some general remarks, obstacles to consensual secession will be distinguished from those of unilateral secession, emphasizing the harshness of the latter. Three passages will be analyzed to overcome these obstacles, namely domestication, perseverance and drama. Although a combination of all three strategies is expected in the world of facts, domestication and perseverance should trump drama in the normative realm of liberal democracy. The passage of drama ought to be anomalous in contemporary democracies. The strategy of drama can backfire.