How Do International Politics Affect Secessionist Movements?: A Survey Experiment in Catalonia and Scotland

Nationalist movements that aim at creating a state of their own eventually face the issue of international recognition. Regardless of whether they use violent or peaceful means, nations who aspire to be states need the support (and recognition) of other states. In the absence of international norms and standards, having a sponsor (often a great power) is instrumental.

Little scholarly attention has been devoted to the question of how international support may affect a population´s support for secession. The aim of this paper is to study to extent to which the prospects of international recognition (or the lack thereof) influence popular support for a unilateral declaration of independence. In order to answer this question, we conducted a web-based survey experiment in Catalonia and Scotland (n=2,400).