Self-determination, international law and post-conflict reconstruction: a right in abeyance

The right to self-determination has played a crucial role in the process of assisting oppressed people to put an end to colonial domination. Outside of the decolonization context, however, its relevance and application has constantly been challenged and debated. This book examines the role played by self-determination in international law with regard to post-conflict state building. It discusses the question of whether self-determination protects local populations from the intervention of international state-builders in domestic affairs. With a focus on the right as it applies to the people of an independent state, it explores how self-determination concerns that arise in the post-conflict period play out in relation to the reconstruction process. The book analyses the situation in Somalia as a means of drawing out the impact and significance of the legal principle of self-determination in the process of rebuilding post-conflict institutions. In so doing, it seeks to highlight how the relevance of self-determination is often overlooked in this context.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures and table -- Table of cases -- Table of legislation -- Peace agreements and related documents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 Background and issues -- 2 Argument and contribution -- 3 Methodological approach -- 4 Structure -- 1 Statehood, state failure and state-building in international law -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Recovering from conflict in international law -- 1.2.1 What state-building is about: building states or fixing failed ones? -- 1.2.2 State failure in international law -- 1.3 If a failed state remains a state: the legal consequences of state failure -- 1.3.1 Territory and the principle of territorial integrity -- 1.3.2 Independence and the principle of non-intervention -- 1.3.3 A permanent population and the principle of self-determination -- 1.4 Conclusions -- 2 Self-determination and state-building in international law -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The common framework of analysis -- 2.2.1 The evaluative approach -- 2.2.1.1 Developing the means and methods for evaluation -- 2.2.1.1.1 International territorial administration -- 2.2.1.1.2 Occupation -- 2.2.1.1.3 The light footprint approach -- 2.2.2 A critical appraisal of the evaluative approach -- 2.2.2.1 The issue of method -- 2.2.2.2 The issue of interpretation -- 2.3 The need for a new interpretative framework to study self-determination -- 2.4 Conclusion -- 3 The right to self-determination for the people of an independent state: an overview -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Subjects, selves and 'layers' of self-determination -- 3.2.1 Self-determination in international law -- 3.2.1.1 Self-determination in the UN Charter -- 3.2.1.2 Legacies of the law -- 3.2.1.3 Self-determination and its application in decolonisation

The right to self-determination has played a crucial role in the process of assisting oppressed people to put an end to colonial domination. Outside of the decolonization context, however, its relevance and application has constantly been challenged and debated. This book examines the role played by self-determination in international law with regard to post-conflict state building. It discusses the question of whether self-determination protects local populations from the intervention of international state-builders in domestic affairs. With a focus on the right as it applies to the people of an independent state, it explores how self-determination concerns that arise in the post-conflict period play out in relation to the reconstruction process. The book analyses the situation in Somalia as a means of drawing out the impact and significance of the legal principle of self-determination in the process of rebuilding post-conflict institutions. In so doing, it seeks to highlight how the relevance of self-determination is often overlooked in this context.