Kosovo independence and more self-determination

September 8th, 2008 • Law, Political

Bancroft has an interesting article on the use of the right to self-determination under international law in relation to Georgia and South-Ossetia. The support giving to Kosovo’s independence, despite international law to the contrary may have set a dangerous precedent for other conflicted states. I think ’self-determination’, in the sense of forming new states, should always be the last option. Especially if the states get divide on purely ethnic or linguistic lines. Surely, European history combined with the lessons from Rwanda, Ethiopia and elsewhere is that division of the world into ethnic enclaves is not a solution to conflict.

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Tags: Georgia, kosovo, russia, self determination

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