Federalism and Secession: Taking Territorial Pluralism Seriously

Federalism and secessionism concur in taking territory and territorial pluralism seriously, since both are concerned with political union and societal diversity. This chapter will discuss a traditional dogma that holds that federal systems, unlike confederal ones, do not recognize a right to secede. After studying the cases of the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the European Union, I will argue that the idea of federalism is compatible with the recognition of a constitutional right to secede. Since federalism praises the normative value of contract to create a polity of polities, we should not neglect that free and equal contracting peoples are inclined to agree an ultimate right of exit when they come together to build a political union.