As we enter 2017 and America recovers from the recent 2016 Presidential Election a certain word is on the lips of many Americans: Secession.

With California, Texas and Florida having legitimate political thoughts on leaving the United States of America a question is popping up on everyone's mind. Could these States function as Sovereign Nations? Could my State? How would they do so?

In this 50 part series we explore each State in terms of it that State could survive as a Nation by looking at how that State currently fairs and could hypothetically fair in the terms of three categories:'

Economics-This looks at how much money that State is making compared to how much it spends, what it exports and imports and how it would impact the world on an Economic scale.

Political-The Political standpoint of the State is taken into account to try to grasp an understanding on how that State would be governed as an independant Nation. The method of Government can have massive impact on the Economy and foreign affairs so it is essential to consider.

Sociocultural-What would the society and culture of this Nation look like based off of the State it is formed from? The Social and Cultural ideologies of a Nation ultimately can decide not only the role it will play to the World, but also how long it will last.

Nestled in the deep Southwest lies the great State of Arizona, famous for its vast stretches of desert and the beautiful Grand Canyon. Could it survive as a Nation?

Arizona as a State

Arizona was the very last of the 48 contiguous States to be admitted to the Union. It is characterized by its combination of the rocky mountains and the Mojave, resulting in a landscape of deserts, dry forest and snow capped mountains. The State is quite large with 113,000 square miles being contained in its borders. It has a sizable population of 6,828,000 people. Despite the State's size, almost 90% of the population lives in it's two metropolitan cities, Phoenix and Tucson. Arizona is very unique in that nearly a whole quarter of the State is designated as lands for the 27 recognized Native American tribes that live in the State. In the past few years the population and economy of Arizona has exploded. This has made it the second fastest growing of all the States.

Economy

Arizona is not an exceptionally rich State but it is growing extensively in comparison to other States. The economy of Arizona is extremely varied. It has a decent agricultural sector that specializes in livestock, lettuce and cotton. Arizona is well known for manufacturing cotton based products, electronic parts and airplane parts. Tourism is alive and well in the State, with State parks such as the Grand Canyon and attractions like ski resorts. Where Arizona truly shines is in Copper mining. It produces more Copper than any other State with nearly two-third's of the Nation's supply coming from the State. This economic diversity coupled with recent growth shows that Arizona has great potential to continue to grow and survive on it's own on the economic level.

Political

Arizona is a relatively balanced State with it leaning slightly towards the Right when discussing the Left/Right ideologies. An immense amount of its population supports the idea of Independent Parties instead of the current two party system. Because of this it can be assumed that an independent Arizona would likely shun away from the two party system and have multiple parties, most likely with the various parties being founded on the principles of certain issues. Arizona would likely work closely with its two new neighbors, the United States and Mexico. Arizona would likely develop a closer bond with Mexico and become a key trading partner. This would lead to a Hispanic influence that could lead to a more relaxed border policy since Arizona is home to many illegal immigrants. Easily the biggest political issue for the new Nation of Arizona would be how to continue to coexist with it's Native American populations. With so much land being dedicated to tribal reservations there would undoubtedly be conflicts. There are many different ways that Arizona could deal with this problem but the most likely way it would handle the tribes would be through forcing tribes to live on smaller areas of land through the purchasing of the land from the Natives or setting aside a large portion of the State that is unneeded and forcing all of the tribes to reside there. Since almost the entire Northwest part of Arizona has already been set aside as reservation territory it is safe to assume that the second option would be taken and all tribes would reside in a slightly expanded version of this current region. This would be met with backlash from the Native American population and Native Rights Activist, but it would be relatively peaceful with little violence aside from protest. Where things really get interesting is the Natives response. Since they would own such a large portion of the Country and likely have a negative perception of the Arizona Government after the Native transitions the Natives could potentially try to secede from Arizona to become their own free Nation. Through the independence of Arizona we could potentially see the development of two new Nations, one the remnants of the State and the other the United Tribes of Arizona.

Sociocultural

To put it briefly, the lifestyles of average people in Arizona would not be heavily affected. They would retain a Government very similar to the United States with the exception of changes in the Political background. With Mexico becoming a very close friend to the new Nation Spanish could become just as important to know as English and there would be slight shifts towards Hispanic culture. The Native Americans of Arizona would face the greatest changes with many of them being forced to leave their homes to move on to the new reservations set aside for them. They would view the Arizona Government as a tyrannical power and oppose it heavily, thus leading to a surge in Native American pride and culture. This would fuel the fires of revolution that would lead to the creation of their own Nation.

Could Arizona be a Country?

An independent Arizona would become a relatively powerful Nation with close relations to Mexico and the United States. It could serve as a bridge between the two Southern powers of North America and even improve relations between them. With it's growing industrial focus on high technology equipment and dominance in the Copper industry, Arizona could become the next Silicon Valley and the primary technology provider for much of Mexico and America. The real greatest change caused by Arizonan Independence would be the potential creation of a Native American Sovereignty. This would create great tension between Native American communities across North America as they considered their own methods of defiance after their success in Arizona.