FEDERALISM AND SECESSIONISM: INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCES ON NATIONALIST POLITICS IN QUEBEC

Secessionism is conventionally understood as a group's response to a powerful grievance. But grievance cannot explain why secession, rather than another strategy, is pursued. I argue that the institutional setting in which grievance is experienced plays a crucial role in placing secession on the agenda as a viable remediation strategy. I demonstrate this by examining the institutional environment of Canadian federalism and the Quebecois secessionist movement. Canada is vulnerable to secessionism thanks to federalism and the principles of compact theory, which have been used by Quebec's secessionists to frame a conception of grievance (a broken bargain) and an easily justifiable remedy (withdrawal from the bargain).