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Self-Determination And Secession Under International Law: Nagorno-Karabakh, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The principle of self-determination grants minority groups defined as “peoples” the right to auto-determine their political future. This principle, while stemming back to post-World War I ideologies, has guided decolonisation and has served as the theoretical underpinning of former colonies’ independence quests. In the more recent decades, however, questions have surfaced regarding this principle’s applicability in the non-decolonisation paradigm: can secessionist movements rely on the principle of self-determination to justify their independence demands? Or, does the principle of self-determination in the non-decolonisation paradigm only bestow a right to internal autonomy on secessionist entities, while obligating them to remain within the …

Self-Determination And Secession Under International Law: The New Framework, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article argues toward the necessity to develop a new international law framework on secession. The development of such a normative framework is necessary in order to address various secessionist situations around the globe and to replace the resolution of secessionist struggles through politics of the Great Powers with true legal norms.

This Article first analyzes several examples of successful and failed secessions in recent history. Next it focuses on existing international law on the subject matter of secession and concludes that existing norms are insufficient and indefinite. Finally, it develops a new proposed framework on secession, which attempts to …

A Tale Of Two States: Territoriality And Minority Rights In Kosovo And Georgia, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article argues that territoriality and minority rights can work in tandem, because most secessionist claims by minority groups involve claims to territory. Thus, territoriality and minority rights are both about land, and the relevant inquiry should be whether to alter the status quo, at the expense of a mother State's territory and in order to accommodate minority rights. This paper seeks to answer this difficult question in the context of recent secessionist struggles in Kosovo and in Georgia. Part 2 discusses the principle of territorial integrity under international law, before turning to a discussion of minority rights, and in …

On The Right To External Self-Determination: "Selfistans," Secession, And The Great Powers' Rule, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article discusses, in Part II, the notion of self-determination, its history, and its recent applications. In Part III, this Article describes how the theory of self-determination is linked to other international law concepts, such as statehood, recognition, sovereignty, and intervention. Part IV focuses on several case studies to illustrate the discrepancy of results attached to the self-determination struggles by different peoples.

This Article describes the self-determination quests of East Timor, Kosovo, Chechnya, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, and will show that while the first two entities achieved external self-determination, the latter three did not. Finally, Part V of this Article …