The referendum on independence in Scotland, the discussions surrounding the status of Catalonia, and the continuous move towards a confederation in Belgium highlight the need to study territorial politics. Developments in Ukraine testify to the fragility of state borders, and show that territorial politics can be rather violent and that decentralization need not quell the conflict. This session contributes to these debates by bringing together scholars working on secession with those specializing on federalism. The overarching themes of the panel include the roots of separatism, the extent to which federalism may offer a solution, and the conditions under which regions can obtain guarantees of their autonomy from the center and when these concessions can (or fail to) impede a region from seeking independence. The following three questions will be addressed:

1. Under which conditions and to what extent does federalism offer a way to accommodate (regional) nationalism?
2. How does or would the secession (potential or real) of one territory endanger the unity of the remaining polity and with what (observable or hypothetical) consequences for the population?
3. What strategies do political actors adopt in activating, fuelling, or cutting across cultural, linguistic, religious and other territorialised cleavages?