Constitutionalising Secession: 4 (Hart Studies in Comparative Public Law) - Hardcover

David Haljan's Constitutionalising Secession is surprisingly timely as well as intellectually engaging...provid[ing] an excellent overview of practically every theoretical issue present in secessionist disputes. It amply repays a close reading.There can be no doubt that Haljan has made an enduring contribution to the literature on secession, and no future discussion can afford to ignore his well-constructed, sometimes even eloquent, arguments even if one continues to be sympathetic to unvarnished claims for "self-determination" even in the absence of tyrannical hegemons. -- Sanford Levinson * Law and Politics Book Review * ...a timely and in-depth contribution to this area of the law...an ideal read for anyone seeking to acquire expertise in the theoretical study of secession movements. -- Michele Fink * Common Market Law Review * ...a valuable contribution to the debate... -- Henri de Waele * European Constitutional Law Review * Constitutionalising Secession is undoubtedly valuable contribution not only to the literature on secession, but also to the wider field of constitutional theory as a whole. -- David Taylor * Public Law Review *

Constitutionalising Secession proceeds from the question, "What, if anything, does the law have to say about a secession crisis?" But, rather than approaching secession through the optic of political or nationalist institutional accommodation, this book focuses on the underpinnings to a constitutional order as a law-making community, underpinnings laid bare by secession pressures. Relying on the corrosive effects of secession, the book explores the deep structure of a constitutional order and the motivating forces creating and sustaining that order. A core idea is that the normativity of law is best understood, through a constitutional optic, as an integrative associative force. Constitutionalising Secession critically analyzes conceptions of constitutional order implicit in the leading models of secession, and it takes as a leading case study the judicial and legislative response to secession in Canada. The book therefore develops a concept of constitutionalism and law-making - 'associative constitutionalism' - to describe their deep structure as a continuing integrative process of association. This model of a dynamic process of value formation can address both the association and the disassociation of constitutional systems. Constitutionalising Secession concludes by examining the ramifications of this constitutional approach for the position of international law. (Series: Hart Studies in Comparative Public Law - Vol. 4)