Possibilities and limits of secession: a case study of the Chechen Republic

This bachelor thesis examines the possibilities and limits of secession in the case of the Chechen Republic. The evaluation of these aspects is made on the basis of the remedial theory formulated by Allen Buchanan. This theory offers nine conditions against which the possibilities and limits of secession can be assessed from a legal, ethical or economic perspective. The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate these nine conditions in the case of the Chechen Republic in the time span from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. The theoretical part focuses on the introduction of the current state of knowledge, the very concept of secessionism, and remedial theory in more detail. The empirical part consists of a single-case study that first introduces the development of Russian-Chechen relations with key milestones that have shaped secessionist efforts in Chechnya, and then focuses on the evaluation of individual conditions, which are thematically divided into three categories. In terms of research design, qualitative analysis of primary and secondary sources is used for the assessment. The findings of the thesis show that conditions related to human rights violations or cultural defence were mainly fulfilled. On the contrary, the limits of Chechen secession are mainly conditions arising from the political-legal sphere.