Jason Sorens


Jason Sorens is a lecturer in the department of government at Dartmouth College. He has been an affiliated scholar with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University since 2008. His primary research interests include fiscal federalism, public policy in federal systems, secessionism, and ethnic politics. Sorens received his B.A. in economics and philosophy, with honors, from Washington and Lee University and his Ph.D in political science from Yale University. He is the founder of the Free State Project and president of Ethics & Economics Education of New England, an effort to boost ethical and economic literacy in New England through programs for high schoolers, opinion leaders, and the general public.

Free State Project

In July 2001, Sorens published an essay titled "Announcement: The Free State Project", in which he proposed the idea of a political migration, with 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas.
, 20,000 people have signed this statement of intent—completing the original goal—and 1,909 people are listed as "early movers" to New Hampshire on the FSP website, saying they have made their move prior to the 20,000-participant trigger.

Published works

Sorens' work has been published in International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Peace Research, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and other academic journals, and his book Secessionism: Identity, Interest, and Strategy was published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2012.