Autonomism

Autonomism is political advocacy for self-government within a larger state rather than complete independence. It seeks authority over some internal affairs while retaining a constitutional relationship with the state.

Devolution: The transfer of powers from a central government to regional or local authorities. Devolution can grant the regional powers autonomists seek without dissolving the state.
Catalan autonomism: A political tradition seeking self-government for Catalonia within Spain, with currents ranging from autonomy to independence. It illustrates how an autonomist movement can coexist with separatist currents.
Secessionism: Advocacy for a territory's separation from an existing state to form an independent state or join another. Secessionism seeks to end the state relationship that autonomism generally preserves.
Ethnic conflict: Political or social conflict organized around ethnic identities, interests, or claims. Autonomy is often proposed to address territorially concentrated identity-based grievances.
Federalism: A system of government that constitutionally divides authority between national and subnational governments. Unlike many autonomist proposals, federalism distributes regional authority across the whole state.
Basque nationalism: A political movement asserting a distinct Basque national identity and seeking varying degrees of self-government or independence. Its institutions and parties have pursued extensive self-government within Spain.
Independence movement: A political movement seeking sovereign statehood for a territory or people. Its goal is full sovereignty, rather than self-government inside an existing state.
Conflict regulation: Institutions and practices that manage disputes without resolving their underlying causes. Autonomous institutions can channel center-region disputes into ongoing political negotiation.
Asymmetric federalism: A federal arrangement in which different regions hold different powers or constitutional status. It can accommodate a region whose autonomist demands differ from those of other regions.
Scottish devolution: The transfer of legislative and administrative powers to Scotland's devolved institutions within the United Kingdom. It demonstrates a constitutional route to self-government that stops short of independence.

Linked from 5 pages