Abstract
From a political point of view, secession is compatible with federalism as the corresponding right to enter in a Federation. From a legal point of view, it has to be provided by the federal constitution, a legal rule or by case law. But it is very unusual or complicated to contemplate secession. Then, the problem is “How to legally anticipate and allow secession?”. This leads to various debates about the potential possibility of allowing secession in a federal constitution. However this debate and the constitutionalization of secession can be avoided by considering that federalism never attains any stability in every ratio of power (federal/state or regional government, centralization/decentralization of power, etc.). Admitting that there is always imbalance, leaving room for manœuvre in restricting the amount of constitutional rules and, as a consequence, granting autonomy to the federal members. So, every Federation has to be organized by means of federative tools (like subsidiarity, distribution of powers, autonomy, etc. in a specific legal or constitutional way), which means instruments adapted and adaptable to every situation at every time. In such a view, these federative tools would be the occasion to contemplate secession in some conditions (more) adapted for the federal and the regional forces. The regional force could benefit from such autonomy (not limited by the federal constitution) and the federal government could have a clear legal framework to organize and contemplate negotiations with the regional force.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barrué-Belou R (2013) Analyse des outilsfédératifs aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et au Brésil – Contribution à l’étude du fédéralisme. Toulouse, https://corpus.ulaval.ca/jspui/bitstream/20.500.11794/25240/1/30475.pdf
Brun H, Tremblay G, Brouillet E (2008) Droit constitutionnel, 5ème édn. Editions Yvon Blais
Cornu G (2013) Vocabulaire juridique. PUF, Paris
Eaton K, Dickovick T (2004) The politics of re-centralization in Argentina and Brazil. Latin Am Res Rev 39(1):90–122
Elie J (2003) Le fédéralismeaméricain à l’aube du XXIèmesiècle. Revued’Allemagne et des Pays de langueallemande, T. 35, 3-2003
Freeman E (1972) History of federal government in Greece and Italy. In: Bury JE (ed) Freeport. NY Books for Library Press
Marbach JR, Katz E, Smith TE (2006) Federalism in America – an Encyclopedia, vol 2. Greenwood Press, Westport
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barrué-Belou, R. (2019). Federative Tools: A New Perspective for Secession. In: López-Basaguren, A., Escajedo San-Epifanio, L. (eds) Claims for Secession and Federalism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59707-2_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59707-2_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59706-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59707-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)