Abstract

The attempts at conceptualising secession as a process of democratic self-determination of the people seem to be at odds with the ways in which modern constitutions have understood democratic legitimation. Rediscovering Johannes Althusius’ thought – particularly his conception of a structurally plural political entity, where the constitutive parts of the consociation and the government fulfil different functions – might offer useful resources to build the innovative conceptual horizon needed in order to reconcile self-determination and democratic legitimacy. Within this conceptual horizon, defining secession is possible only if there is a prior definition of the relationship between the consociation and its parts as well as an analysis of the ideal and material reasons which have lead to the formation of plural political entity.