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.
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