Summary
Jorg Fish: The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination
Containment of an Illusion
Study by a contemporary Swiss lawyer and political scientist on an issue that has caused deep disputes in political practice and scientific thought for centuries. Fiš provides an unusually clear and precise overview of the development of this principle of international law, which simultaneously serves to justify the integrity of the state and to justify secession. The author finds the golden age of this principle in the time of decolonization, when European empires accepted the right to self-determination as a norm of international law. In this regard, the author's view of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Federation as examples of the unprincipled attitude of these states in relation to the issues of secession and self-determination is worthy of attention.
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