The Institutional Basis of Secessionist Politics: Federalism and Secession in the United States

Lawrence M. Anderson

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2004, vol. 34, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: According to the literature on secession, the most important determinant of secessionist sentiment is a high level of grievance experienced by the would-be secessionist group. However, the rationale behind using secession (as opposed to another strategy) as a grievance-amelioration strategy remains almost completely unexplained. This article contends that the institutional setting in which political conflict and grievance are experienced plays a crucial role in whether secession is conceived of as a viable option. This contention is tested by examining the institutional environment of federalism and the role it played in secession in the United States in 1860 and 1861. The United States was uniquely vulnerable to secessionist pressures—as are all federal states, potentially—because of institutional structures that gave constituent states a high level of institutional authority and capacity; this, in turn, contributed to a discourse of states' rights that included the contested right to secede. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2004
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