Secession and Referendum

Front matter

Scienze Sociali

A new Dimension of International Law on Territorial Changes?

PREMIO TESI DI DOTTORATO

Introduction

1. Research Question and Preliminary Remarks

1.1 Secession between international and domestic law

1.2 Secession and/or autonomy under domestic law

1.3 Is international law giving some guidelines to secessionist processes? 1.4 Secession and territorial referenda: a complex interplay 2. Methodology and Structure

2.1 Methodology

2.2 Structure

Chapter 1

Only a colonial peoples’ right? Trajectories of self-determination in International law

1. From a Political Principle to a Legal Rule

1.1 Self-determination after World War I

1.2 Self-determination and the Mandate System in the Covenant of the League of Nations

2. The purport of self-determination in the UN Practice

3. Self-Determination in human rights law: individual and collective nature of the right

Giulia Landi, Secession and Referendum. A new Dimension of International Law on Territorial Changes?, © 2020 Author(s), content CC BY 4.0 International, metadata CCO 1.0 Universal, published by Firenze University Press (www.fupress.com), ISSN 2612-8020

3.1 The role of case-law in establishing a legal right to self-determination 39 3.2 Human Rights Bodies and Self-Determination 42 4 Controversial issues on self-determination: (too) many claimants? 44 4.1 Still in search for a definition of people 44 4.2 Minorities and indigenous peoples: do they have a right to self-

determination? 46 5. Self-determination beyond decolonization: contemporary meanings 50 6. Conclusion 53 Chapter 2

The Contested Right to Secede

1. Secession in international law: a word in search of a definition 59 1.1 Agreed secession in the federation between Eritrea and Ethiopia 62 1.2 The Scottish example of secession by consent 63 1.3 Defining unilateral secession 65 2. Legal approaches to secession 67 2.1 Prohibition of secession under international law 67 2.2 Neutrality of international law towards secession 69 2.3 The remedial right theory 69 3. International due requirements for secession 87 3.1 The ban on the use of force 90 3.2 The respect of the uti possidetis juris principle 92 3.3 The role of territorial referendum 95 3.4 Crimea 96 4. Dis-entangling secession from self-determination: a proposal 99

4.1 Secession and self-determination: different terms with different meanings

4.2 Possible units entitled to seek secession 5. Conclusions