Devolution, Secession, and Shifting Borders

Several established democracies contain regions with strong movements for greater autonomy or outright independence, addressed through devolved government and, in some cases, referendums. Quebec held two sovereignty referendums, in 1980 and 1995; the 1995 vote was extremely close, with about 50.6 percent choosing to remain part of Canada, after which the Canadian Parliament passed the Clarity Act in 2000 setting out conditions for recognizing any future referendum result. Catalonia held an independence referendum in October 2017 that Spain's Constitutional Court had already ruled illegal; the regional government's subsequent unilateral declaration of independence was not recognized by Spain or by other states, and several Catalan leaders faced prosecution or went into exile. Scotland held an independence referendum in 2014 in which 55 percent voted to remain in the United Kingdom; the UK's vote to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum reopened the debate, but the UK Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the Scottish Parliament cannot legally hold a second independence referendum without the consent of the Westminster Parliament.