Since the end of World War Two and the formation of the UN, the nature of warfare has undergone changes with many wars being ‘intra-state’ wars, or wars of secession. Whilst wars of secession do not involve the same number or type of combatants as in the last two World Wars, their potential for destruction and their danger for the international community cannot be underestimated. There are currently many peoples seeking independence from what they perceive as foreign and alien rulers including the Chechens, West Papuans, Achenese, Tibetans, and the Kurds. The break-up of Yugoslavia and the former USSR, together with recent conflicts in South Ossetia, reveal that the potential for future wars of secession remains high. This book explores the relationship between recognition, statehood and self-determination, and shows how self-determination continues to be relevant beyond European decolonisation. The book considers how and why unresolved questions of self-determination have the potential to become violent. The book goes on to investigate whether the International Court of Justice, as the primary judicial organ of the United Nations, could successfully resolve questions of self-determination through the application of legal analysis and principles of international law. By evaluating the strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness of the Court’s advisory jurisdiction, Andrew Coleman asks whether the ICJ is a suitable forum for these questions, and asks what changes would be necessary to provide an effective means for the peaceful "birth" of States.

In Historical Title, Self-Determination and the Kashmir Question Fozia Nazir Lone offers a critical re-examination of the Kashmir question. Through an interdisciplinary approach and international law perspective, she analyses political practices and the substantive international law on the restoration of historical title and self-determination. The book analytically examines whether Kashmir was a State at any point in history; the effect of the 1947 occupation by India/Pakistan; the international law implications of the constitutional incorporation of this territory and the ongoing human rights violations; whether Kashmiris are entitled to restore their historical title through the exercise of self-determination; and whether the Kashmir question could be resolved with the formation of international strategic alliance to curb danger of spreading terrorism in Kashmir.

Since the formation of the UN in 1945 the international community has witnessed a number of violent self-determination conflicts such as the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Kashmir, and South Sudan that have been a major cause of humanitarian crises and destruction. This book examines the scope and applicability of political self-determination beyond the decolonisation process. Explaining the historical evolution of self-determination, this book provides a theoretical examination of the concept and background. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the author analyses self-determination in relation to contemporary conflicts, which inform and drive a coherent theoretical framework for international responses to claims for self-determination. Built upon an examination of the conceptual foundations of self-determination, this book presents a new understanding and application of self-determination. It addresses the important question of whether self-determination claims legitimate armed violence, either by the self-determining group’s right to rebel, or by the international community in the form of humanitarian intervention. The Politics of Self-Determination will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, international relations, security studies and conflict studies.

This volume brings together scholars from intellectual history, social sciences, philosophy and theology to evaluate central questions concerning political violence and aggression. This multidisciplinary collection of essays critically investigates forms and modes of justification of political violence from historical and contemporary perspectives, especially within the context of the development of the idea of Europe and modern European identity. What is meant by political violence and aggression? When and under which conditions is it justified? Who has the right to exercise it and against whom? Answers differ depending on various factors such as pre-established ends, available resources and possibilities of action, historical and socio-economic context, the ideological, political, and religious-theological background of the actors. The volume pays special attention to (a) how the above questions have been addressed and answered political, philosophical and theological thought, and (b) what kind of ideological currents and historical events lay at the background of such considerations.

The aim of the Hague Yearbook of International Law is to offer a platform for review of new developments in the field of international law. In addition, it devotes attention to developments in the international law institutions based in the international City of Peace and Justice, The Hague. This Special Issue of Yearbook stems from a conference organised by the Maastricht University Study Group for Critical Approaches to International Law in April 2022. The conference, entitled 'Deconstructing International Law,' invited participants to reflect on and dismantle some of the foundational ideas of international law.

Explains how actors control access to international resources, creating a stratified international system of political equals and unequals.

An authoritative and engaging work, combining straightforward exposition with extensive footnotes for further research.

There are currently over 100 stateless nations pressing for greater self-determination around the globe. The vast majority of these groups will never achieve independence. Many groups will receive some accommodation over self-determination, many will engage in civil war over self-determination, and in many cases, internecine violence will plague these groups. This book examines the dynamic internal politics of states and self-determination groups. The internal structure and political dynamics of states and self-determination groups significantly affect information and credibility problems faced by these actors, as well as the incentives and opportunities for states to pursue partial accommodation of these groups. Using new data on the internal structure of all self-determination groups and their states and on all accommodation in self-determination disputes, this book shows that states with some, but not too many, internal divisions are best able to accommodate self-determination groups and avoid civil war. When groups are more internally divided, they are both much more likely to be accommodated and to get into civil war with the state, and also more likely to have fighting within the group. Detailed comparison of three self-determination disputes in the conflict-torn region of northeast India reveals that internal divisions in states and groups affect when these groups get the accommodation they seek, which groups violently rebel, and whether actors target violence against their own co-ethnics. The argument and evidence in this book reveal the dynamic effect that internal divisions within SD groups and states have on their ability to bargain over self-determination. Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham demonstrates that understanding the relations between states and SD groups requires looking at the politics inside these actors.

In a world in which racism and xenophobia are endemic, what is the role of international law? To the extent international rules are thought to have any relevance at all, the typical approach characterizes international law as on the side of racial justice. Human rights instruments like the United Nations' International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination are paradigmatic, offering the world international agreements in which governments are directed to avoid racist behavior and promote antiracist action. In The Right to Exclude, Justin Desautels-Stein goes against the grain and asks whether certain rules of international law might actually produce structures of racial hierarchy, rather than limiting them. The intellectual fulcrum for this production, Desautels-Stein argues, lies in the ideological structures of sovereignty and property, the right to exclude that is shared in those twinned precincts, and the border regimes that result. Applying critical race theory to contemporary problems of migration, nationalism, multiculturalism, decolonization, and self-determination, Desautels-Stein expounds a theory of "postracial xenophobia", a structure of racial ideology that justifies and legitimates a pragmatic account of racialized foreignness, a racial xenos.