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A Political Theory Perspective on the Reference

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The Canadian Contribution to a Comparative Law of Secession

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Abstract

This chapter considers the actual and potential impact of the Reference on the main political theory debates related to the issue of secession . First, with regard to a legal way to secede and how it can be exercised, especially within a federal system. Second, with regard to the decision-making processes linked to secession, and particularly on the use of referenda. Third and foremost, with regard to the EU and the Brexit experience. Finally, the Reference offers a rich and complex constitutional framework for federal democracies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Reference Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217-297.

  2. 2.

    Texas v. White, 74 US 700 (1869).

  3. 3.

    Historically there have been non-democratic federal states, such as the USSR, Yugoslavia, and several others. But the literature has generally recognized that their communist or authoritarian regime de facto void their federal features of any real significance and thus does not consider them as really federal systems: see, for example, Burgess (2006) and Burgess and Gagnon (2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. eCampus University, Novedrate, Italy

    Roberto Castaldi

  2. International Centre for European and Global Governance, Pisa, Italy

    Roberto Castaldi

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  1. Roberto Castaldi
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Correspondence to Roberto Castaldi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Comparative Public Law, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

    Giacomo Delledonne

  2. Comparative Public Law, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

    Giuseppe Martinico

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Castaldi, R. (2019). A Political Theory Perspective on the Reference. In: Delledonne, G., Martinico, G. (eds) The Canadian Contribution to a Comparative Law of Secession. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03469-6_11

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