Theme Panel: Author Meets Critics: “The Disunited States”: Why Red and Blue Secession Won’t Work in America

July 15, 2025 APSA Annual Meeting, Theme Panels Comments Off on Theme Panel: Author Meets Critics: “The Disunited States”: Why Red and Blue Secession Won’t Work in America

In-Person Author Meets Critics

Participants:

  • (Chair) Ryan D. Griffiths, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
  • (Presenter) David T. Smith, University of Sydney
  • (Presenter) Stephen M. Saideman, Carleton University
  • (Presenter) Laia Balcells, Georgetown University
  • (Presenter) R. Joseph Huddleston, Seton Hall University

Session Description:

There is a growing interest in a national divorce between Red State America and Blue State America. In February 2023, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that “We need a national divorce…We need to separate by red states and blue states.” Although this controversial comment by a sitting member of Congress received criticism, Taylor Greene’s pronouncement does resonate with a sizable percentage of the American electorate. Recent movements like Yes California have called for a national divorce along political lines. A recent Axios poll shows that 20% of Americans favor a national divorce. These trends show a sincere interest in American secession, and they will likely increase in the aftermath of the 2024 Presidential election.

Proponents of secession typically draw on three arguments. First, Red and Blue America have irreconcilable differences, and, like a failed marriage, the best way forward is to recognize those differences and separate. Second, Americans have a legal and normative right to secession. Third, America is just too big, and splitting it into smaller and more manageable units would make for healthier politics.

The thesis of this book is that these arguments are not only incorrect, but that secession is the wrong solution to the problem of polarization. Red and Blue America are not neatly sorted and geographically concentrated. Splitting the two parts would require a dangerous unmixing of the population. Rather than focus on national divorce as a solution, the better course of action is to seek common ground. The aim of the book is to disabuse readers of the belief that secession will fix America’s problems.

The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won’t Work will be published as a trade book with Oxford University Press in 2025. It is aimed at a generalist audience and designed to influence public debate. The author brings to the discussion an expertise on how secession works globally.

There will be five panelists for this Author Meets Critics roundtable. They are all experts on secession and/or American politics. Core themes in the panel include American polarization, conflict, and identity.