What is the justifiable demos of a referendum on state secession?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21814/eps.5.1.135Keywords:
Secession, referendums, demos, the all-affected principle, the all-subjected principle, exit, non-dominationAbstract
The predominant practice for enfranchisement in referendums on state secession only grants a
vote to residents of the secessionist unit, while referendums on urban secession are often
all-inclusive, in the sense of enfranchising all residents of the municipality challenged by
secessionism. This paper examines the justifiability of a more exclusive practice at the state level
from two principles for delimiting the demos, namely the all-affected principle and the
all-subjected principle. The argument of the paper is that both these principles typically sanction
an all-inclusive demos at both these levels of government. However, such a demos would carry a
considerable risk of majority domination of a separatist minority at the state level, a risk that is
much lower at the municipal level. The paper claims this to be a conclusive argument against
applying these principles on referendums on state secession and thus for retaining our current
enfranchisement practices.
References
Arrhenius, G. (2005). The boundary problem in democratic theory. In F. Tersman (Ed.), Democracy unbound: Basic explorations I. Stockholm University.
Arrhenius, G. (2018). The democratic boundary problem reconsidered. Ethics, Politics and Society, 1, 89–122. https://doi.org/10.21814/EPS.1.1.52 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21814/eps.1.1.52
Arrighi, J-T. (2019). ‘The People, Year Zero’: Secessionism and citizenship in Scotland and Catalonia. Ethnopolitics, 18(3), 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585091 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585091
Bauböck, R. (2019). A multi-level theory of democratic secession. Ethnopolitics, 18(3), 227–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585088 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585088
Beckman, L. (2006). Citizenship and voting rights: Should resident aliens vote?. Citizenship Studies, 10(2), 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621020600633093 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13621020600633093
Beckman, L. (2014). The subjects of collectively binding decisions: Democratic inclusion and extraterritorial law. Ratio Juris, 27(2), 252–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/raju.12038 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/raju.12038
Beckman, L., & Hultin Rosenberg, J. (2018). Freedom as non-domination and democratic inclusion. Res Publica, 24(2), 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-016-9348-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-016-9348-8
Boudreau, J-A., & Keil, R. (2001). Seceding from responsibility? Secession movements in Los Angeles. Urban Studies, 38(10), 1701–1731.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120084822 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120084822
Briffault, R. (1992). Voting rights, home rule, and metropolitan governance: The secession of Staten Island as a case study in the dilemmas of local self-determination. Columbia Law Review, 92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1122970
Buchanan, A. (1991). Secession. The morality of political divorce from Fort Sumter to Lithuania. Westview Press.
Buchanan, A. (2004). Justice, legitimacy and self-determination. Moral foundations for international Law. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0198295359.001.0001
Catalan News. (2019, November, 21). Half of Spaniards outside Catalonia would accept result of agreed referendum, says poll. Catalan News. www.catalannews.com/politics/item/half-of-spaniards-outside-catalonia-would-accept-result-of-agreed-referendum-says-poll
Centre on Constitutional Change. (2014). The English favour a hard line with Scotland [Press release].
Dahl, R. (1956). A preface to democratic theory. Phoenix Books.
Dahl, R. (1989). Democracy and its critics. Yale University Press.
Erman, E. (2014). The boundary problem and the ideal of democracy. Constellations, 21(4), 535–546. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12116 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12116
Flanagan, R., & Kramer, D. (2012). Staten Island: Conservative bastion in a liberal city. University Press of America.
Gauthier, D. (1994). Breaking up: An essay on secession. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 24(3), 357–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.1994.10717374 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.1994.10717374
Goodin, R. (2007). Enfranchising all affected interests, and its alternatives. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 35(1), 40–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.2007.00098.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.2007.00098.x
Held, D. (1995). Democracy and the global order: From the modern state to cosmopolitan governance. Stanford University Press.
Hogen-Esch, T., & Saiz, M. (2001). An anatomy of defeat: Why San Fernando Valley failed to secede from Los Angeles. California Policy Issues, Nov., 39–66.
Hume, D. (1894). Essays, Moral, Political, Literary. G. Routledge & Sons.
Lovett, F. (2010). A general theory of domination and justice. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579419.001.0001
McGann, A. (2006). The logic of democracy. University of Michigan Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.189565
McGarry, J., & Moore, M. (2011). Secession and domination. In A. Pavkovic & P. Radan (Eds.), The Ashgate research companion to secession. Ashgate.
Miller, D. (2009). Democracy’s domain. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 37(3), 201–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.2009.01158.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.2009.01158.x
Miller, D. (2010). Why immigrant controls are not coercive: A reply to Arash Abizadeh. Political Theory, 38(1), 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591709348194 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591709348194
Miller, N. R. (1983). Pluralism and social choice. The American Political Science Review, 77(3), 734–747. https://doi.org/10.2307/1957271 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1957271
Oklopcic, Z. (2012). Constitutional (re)vision: Sovereign peoples, new constituent powers, and the formation of constitutional orders in the Balkans. Constellations, 19(1), 81–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8675.2011.00667.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8675.2011.00667.x
Owen, D. (2012). Constituting the polity, constituting the demos: on the place of the all affected interests principle in democratic theory and in resolving the democratic boundary problem. Ethics and Global Politics, 5(3), 129–152. https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v5i3.18617 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v5i3.18617
Pettit, P. (1997). Republicanism. A theory of freedom and government. Oxford University Press.
Pettit, P. (2012). On the people’s terms: A republican theory and model of democracy. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139017428
Qvortrup, M. (2012). The history of ethno-national referendums 1791–2011. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 18(1), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.654081 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.654081
Radan, P. (2012). Secessionist referenda in international and domestic law. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 18(1), 8–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.654083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.654083
Reinikainen, J. (2019). What is the democratic approach to plebiscitary secessionism?. Ethnopolitics, 18(2), 362–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1591044 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1591044
Shapiro, I. (2012). On non-domination. University of Toronto Law Journal, 62(3), 293–336. https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.62.3.293 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.62.3.293
Sager, A. (2014). Political rights, republican freedom, and temporary workers. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 17(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2012.733586 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2012.733586
SOU. (1993:90). Lokal demokrati i utveckling: Slutbetänkande av lokaldemokratikommittén [The development of local democracy: Final report of the Local Democracy Committee]. Allmänna förlaget.
Stjepanovic, D., & Tierney, S. (2019). The right to vote: Constitutive referendums and regional citizenship. Ethnopolitics, 18(3), 264–277.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585090 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2019.1585090
Whelan, F. G. (1983). Prologue: Democratic theory and the boundary problem. In R. Pennock & J. W. Chapman (Eds.), Liberal Democracy (pp. 13–47). New York University Press.
Ziegler, R., Shaw, J., & Bauböck, R. (2014). Independence referendums: Who should vote and who should be offered citizenship (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. RSCAS 2014/90). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2494832 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2494832
