Self-Determination and Secession in International Law

Self-Determination and Secession in International Law PDF Author: Christian Walter
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191006912
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Peoples and minorities in many parts of the world assert a right to self-determination, autonomy, and even secession from a state, which naturally conflicts with that state's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The right of a people to self-determination and secession has existed as a concept within international law since the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, but the exact definition of these concepts, and the conditions required for their application, remain unclear. The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice concerning the Declaration of Independency of Kosovo (2010), which held that the Kosovo declaration of independence was not in violation of international law, has only led to further questions. This book takes four conflicts in the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a starting point for examining the current state of the law of self-determination and secession. Four entities, Transnistria (Moldova), South Ossetia, Abkhazia (both Georgia), and Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), claim to be entitled not only to self-determination but also to secession from their mother state. For this entitlement they rely on historic affiliations, and on charges of discrimination and massive human rights violations committed by their mother state. This book sets out its analysis of these critical issue in three parts, providing a detailed understanding of the principles of international law on which they rely: The first part sets out the contours and meaning of self-determination and secession, including an overall assessment of secession within the Commonwealth of Independent States. The second section provides case studies investigating the events in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Nagorno-Karabach in greater detail. The third and final section extends the scope of the examination, providing a comparative analysis of similar conflicts involving questions of self-determination and secession in Kosovo, Western Sahara, and Eritrea.

Self-Determination and Secession in International Law

Self-Determination and Secession in International Law PDF Author: Christian Walter
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191006912
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book

Book Description
Peoples and minorities in many parts of the world assert a right to self-determination, autonomy, and even secession from a state, which naturally conflicts with that state's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The right of a people to self-determination and secession has existed as a concept within international law since the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, but the exact definition of these concepts, and the conditions required for their application, remain unclear. The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice concerning the Declaration of Independency of Kosovo (2010), which held that the Kosovo declaration of independence was not in violation of international law, has only led to further questions. This book takes four conflicts in the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a starting point for examining the current state of the law of self-determination and secession. Four entities, Transnistria (Moldova), South Ossetia, Abkhazia (both Georgia), and Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), claim to be entitled not only to self-determination but also to secession from their mother state. For this entitlement they rely on historic affiliations, and on charges of discrimination and massive human rights violations committed by their mother state. This book sets out its analysis of these critical issue in three parts, providing a detailed understanding of the principles of international law on which they rely: The first part sets out the contours and meaning of self-determination and secession, including an overall assessment of secession within the Commonwealth of Independent States. The second section provides case studies investigating the events in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Nagorno-Karabach in greater detail. The third and final section extends the scope of the examination, providing a comparative analysis of similar conflicts involving questions of self-determination and secession in Kosovo, Western Sahara, and Eritrea.

Self-Determination and Humanitarian Secession in International Law of a Globalized World

Self-Determination and Humanitarian Secession in International Law of a Globalized World PDF Author: Juan Francisco Escudero Espinosa
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319726226
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This book addresses questions in connection with the international legal regime on demands for secession, which have arisen in various States. More specifically, it examines the unilateral declarations of independence by Kosovo in 2008, and by Crimea and its subsequent annexation by the Russian Federation in 2014. The work investigates the two cases so as to shed light on the international legal regime affecting entities that are smaller than a sovereign State. It analyzes the relevant principles of international law, the intention being to determine their scope and review them in light of the most recent practice and developments in international law. In turn, the book examines and explains the events of relevance for international law that occurred in the changing situations in Kosovo and Crimea. On the basis of these legal considerations, it explores how the international community can respond when faced with situations that may violate international law, together with the effectiveness of various measures. It also discusses whether certain situations might be legitimate as a concept could now be emerging that secession may be justified in specific circumstances, such as serious and widespread violations of basic human rights.

Secession in International Law

Secession in International Law PDF Author: Milena Sterio
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1785361228
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Secession in International Law argues that the effective development of criteria on secession is a necessity in today’s world, because secessionist struggles can be analyzed through the legal lens only if we have specific legal rules to apply. Without legal rules, secessionist struggles are dominated by politics and sui generis approaches, which validate secessionist attempts based on geo-politics and regional states’ self-interest, as opposed to the law. By using a truly comparative approach, Milena Sterio has developed a normative international law framework on secession, which focuses on several factors to assess the legitimacy of a separatist quest.

Self-Determination and Secession

Self-Determination and Secession PDF Author: Natalija Shikova
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031343220
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive summary of extant international law scholarship on the topics of self-determination and secession and positions the concepts among present-day theory and relevant practice, illustrated through various ongoing cases and historical examples. The right to self-determination is among the least understood rights within international law. Theoretical dilemmas – as to whether there is a link between self-determination and secession – are nothing new. In essence, self-determination is a much broader concept than secession and obtaining independent statehood. Unilateral secession is not prohibited by international law, but neither is it per se welcomed or accepted in practice. Beyond the context of decolonization, secession claims have long been viewed with disapproval in international law, and lawyers have been extremely skeptical about the issue. Although this is still the case, there are also new trends and opportunities to explore situations in which secession can be accepted, legitimized, or even legally permissible. The yardstick for this is the diplomatic response to secessionism and the growing involvement of the international community in mediation and conflict resolution. Though finding solutions can be difficult, within the existing frame, the ongoing tension between the duty of every society to recognize pluralism and diversity on the one hand, and the inherent desire of every culture – whether majority, minority or indigenous – to protect its values and ensure conformity on the other, must be resolved. The practices and modalities that envisage the internal dimension of the right to self-determination as a right that is exercised within the state borders can offer such opportunities. The appropriate role of the state and the international community is to serve as mediators between competing forces and to set parameters that can transform destructive conflicts into productive political models.

The Right to Self-determination Under International Law

The Right to Self-determination Under International Law PDF Author: Milena Sterio
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415668182
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Presents the legal cases for self-determination in East Timor, Kosovo, Chechnya, Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) and in South Sudan.

Secession

Secession PDF Author: Marcelo G. Kohen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521849289
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
This book is a comprehensive study of secession from an international law perspective.

Morality and Legality of Secession

Morality and Legality of Secession PDF Author: Pau Bossacoma Busquets
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030265897
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
This book explores secession from three normative disciplines: political philosophy, international law and constitutional law. The author first develops a moral theory of secession based on a hypothetical multinational contract. Under this contract theory, injustices do not determine the existence of a right to secede, but the requirements to exercise it. The book’s second part then argues that international law is more inclined to accept and advance a remedial right approach to secession. Therefore, justice as multinational fairness is to be fully institutionalized under the constitutional law of liberal democracies. The final part proposes constitutionalizing a qualified right to secede with the aim of fostering recognition and accommodation of national pluralism as well as cooperation and compromise between majority and minority nations.

Self-Determination and Secession in Africa

Self-Determination and Secession in Africa PDF Author: Redie Bereketeab
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317649680
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
This book provides a unique comparative study of the major secessionist and self-determination movements in post-colonial Africa, examining theory, international law, charters of the United Nations, and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/African Union’s (AU) stance on the issue. The book explores whether self-determination and secessionism lead to peace, stability, development and democratisation in conflict-ridden societies, particularly looking at the outcomes in Eritrea and South Sudan. The book covers all the major attempts at self-determination and secession on the continent, extensively analysing the geo-political, economic, security and ideological factors that determine the outcome of the quest for self-determination and secession. It reveals the lack of inherent clarity in international law, social science theories, OAU/AU Charter, UN Charters and international conventions concerning the topic. This is a major contribution to the field and highly relevant for researchers and postgraduate students in African Studies, Development Studies, African Politics and History, and Anthropology.

The Theory of Self-Determination

The Theory of Self-Determination PDF Author: Fernando R. Tesón
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107119138
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
In this book, leading scholars re-examine the principle of national self-determination from diverse theoretical perspectives.

Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination

Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination PDF Author: David Raic
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 904740338X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 515

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Book Description
Although most international lawyers assumed that the distribution of the land surface of the earth between States was more or less final after the end of decolonization, recent practice has disproved this assumption. Eritrea separated from Ethiopia and new States were created out of the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and the former Czechoslovakia. There is no reason to believe that these events form the end of the creation of new States. Numerous communities within existing States claim a right to full separate statehood on the basis of their entitlement to an alleged right to self-determination. However, in most cases, the international community rejected such claims to statehood, even if the territorial entity satisfied the traditional criteria for statehood. On the other hand, in other cases, including some of those mentioned above, the international community acknowledged the statehood of entities which clearly failed to meet these criteria. In the light of the above-mentioned developments, this book examines the modern law of statehood, and in particular the role of the law of self-determination in the process of the formation of States in international law. The study shows that the law of statehood has changed considerably since the establishment of the United Nations. It is argued that the law of self-determination is particularly relevant for explaining the international community's position regarding the general recognition, or the general denial, of statehood of different territorial entities under contemporary international law.