Daniel O. Iwueze

Secession has been noticeably absent from International Relations theory although its role in the creation and recognition of states is clearly relevant.' Traditionally, the dominant perspective in International Relations have not questioned state formation and this has effectively barred secession as a topic since it cannot be thoroughly treated without looking across the inside/outside divide of state sovereignty. Secession must be placed in its historical context — as a phenomenon only possible in the modem era and only perceived as a global threat in this century Theorists from other disciplines who have discussed secession have reached on a problem-solving theoretical perspective which has kept them from considering secession as an outcome of problematic assumptions about identity and territory in the international system. In contrast, a critical theoretical perspective, which affirms the constitutive processes of historical discourse allows an analysis of secession which exposes the contingency of its basic assumptions.