Self-governance

Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority.^[2][3][4] It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of institution, such as family units, social groups, affinity groups, legal bodies, industry bodies, religions, and political entities of various degrees.^[4][5][6] Self-governance is closely related to various philosophical and socio-political concepts such as autonomy, independence, self-control, self-discipline, and sovereignty.^[7]

In the context of nation states, self-governance is called national sovereignty which is an important concept in international law. In the context of administrative division, a self-governing territory is called an autonomous region.^[8] Self-governance is also associated with political contexts in which a population or demographic becomes independent from colonial rule, absolute government, absolute monarchy, or any government that they perceive does not adequately represent them.^[9] It is therefore a fundamental tenet of many democracies, republics and nationalist governments.^[10] Mohandas Gandhi's term "swaraj" is a branch of this self-rule ideology. Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.