That&#x27;s a fair point, but from what you&#x27;ve shared it sounds more like an invasion of sorts than an actual secession movement. Do you know how much of a majority they had? If it was on the order of 51% of a tiny town that just doesn&#x27;t seem sufficient.<p>As you say, it helps for the place to be self-sufficient.<p>A good example actually are the Amish. Their towns are almost completely composed of Amish and they&#x27;re entirely self-sufficient except for the standing army part.<p>For this they actually pay fewer taxes than most Americans, but they still do pay taxes.<p>The formation of a country seems to require at least two things then:<p>1. Self-sufficiency in terms of resources<p>2. Self-sufficiency in terms of defense<p>(EDIT2: A friend points out that it&#x27;s a bit more nuanced than this since many existing countries do not satisfy these criteria given the nature of modern trade. So these requirements can be filled by-proxy.)<p>On that last point, it doesn&#x27;t necessarily have to imply a superior military. As long as you have some sort of leverage over neighboring countries (like trade agreements), you can arrange to have a truce or even an alliance between yourselves.<p>An example would be if Silicon Valley and neighboring farming regions banded together and said, &quot;No more tech unless you give us autonomy.&quot;<p>---<p>EDIT: regarding the question you inserted in your edit, please see if the post I mentioned answers your question: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fixingtao.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;lunatics-terrorists-and-the-three-noble-truths-of-systems&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fixingtao.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;lunatics-terrorists-and-the-th...</a> If it doesn&#x27;t I invite you to post a comment there to continue the convo.