Separatism is a term usually applied to describe the attitudes or motivations of those seeking independence or "separation" of their land or region from the country that governs them. To a lesser extent, separatism may also refert to social isolation or involvement in cliques. The term separatist movements usually refers to social movements that aspire to autonomy for a particular group of people from a dominant political institution under which they suffer, although separatism can also be enforced by a ruling political power, as occurred in South Africa under apartheid. The grounds for separation can be regional, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, or gender — or a combination of these factors.

Political and administrative separatism

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Political separatism may involve attempts to obtain sovereignty and to split a territory or a group of people (usually a people with a distinctive national consciousness) from one another, or one nation from another. One type of example involves colonies gaining independence from a metropolis. Separatist groups themselves often reject the term separatism: they may consider it pejorative, and prefer more neutral terms such as self-determination.

Separatist movements often operate using strictly constitutional and peaceful methods. The province of Quebec in Canada has, with the exception of the October Crisis of 1970, fostered a mostly peaceful separatist movement since roughly 1960. Broadly peaceful movements ended in the break-up of Czechoslovakia and of the Soviet Union. Singapore also peacefully seceded from the Malaysian Federation. The formation of the Confederate States of America in 1861 occasioned major warfare only after a series of arguably constitutional and orderly secessions.

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