Political claims concerning state territorial transformation, secessionism and separatism still constitute a relatively understudied issue in political science. Scholars such as Radan (Reference Radan2012) have debated at length whether the study of separatism belongs more to International Relations or to domestic politics. Different scientific approaches seeking to analyse similar phenomena are sometimes rigidly framed by geographical area and local contexts (such as decolonization in Africa or pro-independence demands in Western Europe), with no or little regard for transnational aspects. They may apply the same scientific concepts but fail to bridge epistemic divergences. Independentism, separatism, secessionism, annexationism, irredentism are striking examples of such an epistemic confusion. Moreover, scholars seldom contextualize these very different political phenomena, in spite of important regional and international contextual factors. Nonetheless, crucial issues in comparative politics such as nations and nationalism, regionalism, sub-state ethnic identities, regional/national culture and language, all constitute crucial explanatory or intervening factors for understanding independentism and secessionism in general. Fortunately, recent scholarship (Bartkus, Reference Bartkus1999; Sorens, Reference Sorens2012), though still scarce, seems to be more attentive to these aspects. The scientific literature on these issues (available in Italian) is an intellectual niche, indeed. However, it tries to overcome the ‘terminological confusion’ which Walker (Reference Walker1994) viewed as the central difficulty in this field of study.

The author's book confirms this attempt. Although dedicated to a very specific geographical and socio-economic area – however vast – namely the so-called ex-communist regimes, this book is of interest to all scholars who study identity-based separatisms. The author chooses to deal with the specific aspect of separatist claims in their conflictual dimension. The aim of the work is to understand the determinants of violent secessions in those areas. The author demonstrates great familiarity with the literature on the subject. That said, it would have been useful to clarify the synonymous use of ‘separatism’ and ‘secessionism’ (and sometimes ‘independentism’). Methodologically, the author adopts a cross-country analysis with three specific independent variables (discussed below) in order to explain the dependent variable linked to the type of outcome of each secession.

The case-studies analysed are the Southern Caucasus, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In the first case, separatist conflicts have always been violent (e.g. Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia). In the other two cases, however, we observe both peaceful separatisms (the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia; Montenegro separating from Serbia after the dissolution of the former Republic of Yugoslavia) and violent ones (Kosovo from Serbia, Donbass from Ukraine and Transnistria from Moldova). The analysis covers the period 1991–2014. In the first part of the book, the author clarifies that some of these states de facto, though still unrecognized by the international system, should be taken into account. In fact, inasmuch as these embryonic states have obtained and exercised the legitimate monopoly on the use of force over more or less consolidated territories, political statehood must be fully considered, at least analytically. In the second part of the volume, the author traces the patterns of ethno-national mobilization in the selected cases, the main actors and their characteristics, the pre-existing systemic context and the types of institutions either promoting or hindering political claims.

This study certainly contributes to understanding the processes of separatist conflicts and the outcomes that may derive from them. For this reason, the division of the volume into two parts seems appropriate: the first part is more theoretical, whereas the second is more empirical. In this way, the reader gains a solid theoretical knowledge of the political factors leading to the use of violence (an instrumental vector of change in state structure for the minorities concerned), accompanied by concrete empirical contextualization. The independent variables analysed by the author include types of institutions (chapter 3), the patterns of transition and the role of external actors (chapter 4).

With regard to the institutional variable, the author correctly infers that the presence of local institutions generally facilitates ethnic mobilization, namely the demand for secession. This happens because separatist demands are often conveyed by and through local institutions. The difference in the outcome, which can be violent or peaceful, depends on the type of institutions. On the one hand, there is the case of symmetrical ethnic federations, where secessions take place peacefully since minorities have a direct relationship with the ethnic majority at the political centre. Minorities thus have a greater incentive not to use violence, as both the cases of Czechoslovakia and Montenegro demonstrate. On the other hand, in cases where local representative institutions are severely limited in their powers, radical protest is triggered and easily evolves into violent secession, as in the cases of the South Caucasus and Kosovo. With respect to the patterns of transition of the regime, the author reflects on inclusive and exclusive dynamics. In the first case, the regime changes from the former state to a new one while minorities are integrated so that no secession takes place; and even when the latter occurs, it is of the peaceful type. In the second case, with minorities left on the sidelines of the transition process, the regime is more likely to encounter violent secessions, especially engendered by the so-called security dilemma (Lake and Rothchild, Reference Lake and Rothchild1996) or by the fear of minorities to submit their destiny to the will of the ethnic majority. Lastly, the author introduces the role of external actors (especially other states) in secessions. Third-party states can act as mediators (in this case secessions will be mostly peaceful, as in Slovakia and Montenegro), or as partisans in favour of one of the two parties, while taking advantage of the potential or real conflict; consequently resulting in violent secessions and civil wars (e.g. the weapons that arrived in Kosovo from Albania, the role of Russia in the South Caucasus, in Transnistria and Donbass).

In addition to the in-depth and well-argued description of each case study, another important contribution of this volume is that it bridges two different types of scholarship, both interested in secessions. Both international relations experts and ‘Rokkanian’ scholars (linked to the more ‘internal’ analytical approach of political cleavages) will find this work timely and enriching. In fact, one hopes that greater interaction between these two scholarly approaches is possible. Though the book is somewhat lacking in the analysis of independentisms, scholars of that approach are still strongly encouraged to read it. There is still much room for further in-depth study of these issues. This book confronts many of them and fulfils its objectives. May there be more attempts following in its path.