Differentiate secession and irredentism, with examples.

• A. Secession is a region's attempt to form an independent state (Catalonia); Irredentism seeks to annex territory because it shares ethnicity/history with the homeland (historical Hungarian claims to nearby lands).
• B. Secession involves merging with another country; Irredentism involves creating new borders.
• C. Secession is about economic integration; Irredentism is about political decentralization.
• D. Secession and Irredentism are the same concept.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is about the direction of change in territory and sovereignty. Secession happens when a region inside a country tries to break away and become its own independent state, separating from the parent country. For example, Catalonia’s push to form an independent state would create a new sovereign entity. Irredentism is different: it aims to redraw borders to bring territory under the control of a homeland state because that land shares ethnicity or historical ties with that homeland. Historical Hungarian claims to nearby lands illustrate this idea, where the goal is to annex those areas into Hungary due to shared heritage. The other options mix up these goals or treat the concepts as the same, which they are not.