The essays in Secession, State & Liberty argue that the political impulse to secede—to attempt to separate from central government control—is a vital part of the Lockean classical-liberal tradition, one that emerges when national governments become too big and too ambitious.
Unlike revolution, secession seeks only separation from rule, preferably through non-violent means. It is based on the moral idea, articulated by Ludwig von Mises in 1919, that “no people and no part of a people shall be held against its will in a political association that it does not want.”
These seven important essays—which cover philosophy, history, economics, and law—argue that the threat of secession should be revived as a bulwark against government encroachment on individual liberty and private property rights, as a guarantor of international free trade, and as protection against attempts to curb the freedom of association.
David Gordon is Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Mises Review.
In this week's Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon takes issue with the DEI movement in higher education, pointing to the utterly absurd case of Jason Arday, a professor of the sociology of education at Cambridge University, as DEI's poster child.
In this week’s Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon reviews Cronyism: Rise of the Corporate State 1849–1929 by Patrick Newman.
The Theory and Method faculty panel takes questions from Mises University students.
Gordonh, David, ed. Secession, State, and Liberty (Transaction Publishers, 1998).
