The Right to Self-determination as a Claim to Independence in International Practice

This paper examines responses of states and intergovernmental organizations to the claims of independent statehood grounded in the right to self-determination. Virtually all assertions of independence invoke this right and it is highly probable that this long-standing global trend will continue. At the same time, only a relatively limited number of them are supported externally, either in the form of widespread public endorsement or outright recognition of a new state. This paper argues that there has been a clear prevailing international practice for more than five decades. On the one hand, international society has accepted self-determination claims to independence put forward by colonies and by non-colonial entities that obtained assent of their parent states. On the other hand, it has opposed claims set forth by non-colonial entities against the will of their parent states unilaterally. However, countries have been unable to maintain complete consistency and, in recent years, great powers found themselves at profound odds over a number of cases. These differences have led, and have a future potential to lead, to various forms of international conflict.