[roncesvalles]

Separatism is born of a sense of ethnoracial exceptionalism:

1) we're a genealogically different ethnic group from the rest of the country

2) we're better than the major ethnic group of the rest of the country

Both bits are absolutely essential. I can't recall a single instance of a separatist movement based on purely political differences gaining serious ground, Alberta included.

[api]

Why just ethnic? It can also be religious, ideological, or based on some economic interest. The US revolution was a mix of tax revolt and ideology. The British were the same ethnic group as most of the leaders of the revolution.

[roncesvalles]

Most (serious) separatist movements that appear religiously/ideologically motivated on the surface have a lesser known but critical ethnoracial exceptionalism myth that underpins them (e.g. Kashmir).

Again, I don't consider de-colonization movements to be separatism. A rough criteria would be that you must be physically contiguous to the state that you're trying to separate from.

Also heed my second criteria: a people who perceive themselves to be inferior to the majority group will never, ever develop ambitions of separatism. It usually goes like: "we're better than these other guys but they keep us under their thumbs, hence we want our own country."

[KingOfCoders]

It would be kind of a stretch to argue this as the reasons for separation of the US from the UK - I can see some of it, but I think the argument is a stretch.

[roncesvalles]

I wouldn't define independence from colonial rule as separatism.