Griffiths Talks to USA Today About Eastern Oregon’s Secession Effort

May 21, 2024

USA Today

Ryan Griffiths

Political Science Department

International and Intra-State Conflict

Political Parties

Rural Issues

State & Local

United States

USA Today

Ryan Griffiths

An Oregon ballot initiative to shift the border 200 miles west is the latest in a long line of seccession efforts that highlight the nation's sharp divide. The “Greater Idaho Movement” came about because residents of rural, conservative eastern Oregon are frustrated with their liberal urban neighbors.

Ryan Griffiths, professor of political science and author of “Secession and the Sovereignty Game: Strategy and Tactics for Aspiring Nations” (Cornell University Press, 2021), says that, like other secession efforts, the Greater Idaho Movement lacks a significant groundswell of public support, and in most cases is more of a referendum on state-level governance.

“It's a pipe dream, in a way. What they're doing is partly performative, for ideological purposes,” he says. “A lot of time, secessionist movements are really just bargaining efforts.”

Read more in the USA Today article, “Tired of your state politics? These residents are looking to secession as the solution.”