In Forgetting Ourselves, Linda Bishai thoroughly examines why secession has been ignored by international relations both in theory and practice. Mainstream perspectives in international relations theory have, up to this point, questioned neither state formation nor the inside/outside divide of state sovereignty. Bishai, however, historicizes and questions the concept of secession itself, and the component assumptions of territoriality and identity upon which it rests.

Chapter 1 If at First You Don't Secede: International Relations Theory and Its Shortcomings Chapter 2 Why the Patient Cannot be Cured Chapter 3 States Taking Place: History and the Territorialization of Politics Chapter 4 Begging to Differ: Patriots, Nationalists, Minorities Chapter 5 Secessionist Performances, Narrating Otherness Chapter 6 InConclusion: Forgetting and the Theory & Practice of the Self