Negotiating Free Association between Western Sahara and Morocco: A Comparative Legal Analysis of Formulas for Self-Determination

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel J. Spector
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Free Association ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject

AbstractThe proposal of new negotiation formulae in the midst of stalemated conflicts can help to reframe the problem and restart dialogue. They can also unleash new controversy. The Moroccan Initiative for Negotiating an Autonomy Statute for the Sahara Region is a formulaic proposal advanced by Morocco to describe the broad outlines for Sahrawi autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. It has been the subject of debate within the international community since it was first introduced in April 2007. Until now, however, discussion of its efficacy as a formulaic basis for a negotiated resolution to the Western Sahara dispute has largely outweighed serious consideration of how the proposal relates to current understandings of international law concerning self-determination and free association. Like Western Sahara, the Cook Islands, Niue, Aceh, New Caledonia, and Bougainville are cases of non-self-governing territories and other high autonomy arrangements where there has been recognition of the need to substitute, as the basis for ending the conflict, a comprehensive negotiated political status, in place of frequently unworkable or unattractive alternatives such as a contentious referendum on independence, open-ended talks, or continued armed conflict. In light of the lessons learned from actual state practice and international responses in the foregoing cases, an assessment of the present Moroccan proposal demonstrates that with some improvements, it may offer a viable new starting point for negotiations. The result of using this plan as a formula to restart negotiations can be the attainment for Western Sahara of a full measure of self-government ‐ in a manner consistent with international law ‐ by means of free association.

scholarly journals Good offices: grasping the place of law in conflict

Legal Studies ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife O'Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes ◽  
Violent Conflicts

In the pantheon of approaches open to participants in the pacific settlement of disputes, good offices holds a noteworthy place. The evolution of good offices over the past century is concurrent with a trend of considerable transformation within international law, including – amongst other changes – a move away from a state-led legal order, including in good offices following the emergence of the heads of international organisations as its prime users, and a process of legalisation and specialisation within the subject that has entirely altered its character. These changes have led to a redefinition of good offices that stresses the actor carrying out the role above the form that it takes. To accompany these changes in practice, there is a need for a transformation in the legal analysis and definition of good offices. One potential option in achieving this end is Bell'slex pacificatoria. If good offices is to continue to play a significant role in the settlement of violent conflicts, a fully developed legal analysis is necessary to grasp both its historical development and its potential future role.

Striking a Balance between Free Association and Regulating Membership of a ‘Community’: Exploring s 235 of the Constitution of South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Bertus De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Free Association ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Essential Question ◽  
Universal Standard

Section 235 of the Constitution of South Africa contains a promise of potential self-determination of language and cultural communities. An essential question arising from this promise is how an individual’s freedom of association interacts with the ability of a community to determine its membership. This article reflects on this question with reference to standards developed in international law and practices in the constitutional law of selected case studies. Whereas international law sets a universal standard of free association, states have developed practices whereby the individual’s right to free association is recognised, but where there are also some measures allowed to ensure that an individual is indeed accepted by and part of the community. Any conflicts that arise are, generally speaking, subject to a form of judicial review.

A Framework for the Legal Analysis of War-Peace Issues

1966 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-734
Author(s):  
Kenneth Carlston
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Interstate Conflict ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function

To state the province and function of law in the control of war requires an understanding, in the broadest possible terms, of the nature of interstate conflict in the twentieth century. When such an understanding is reached, it will be seen that the traditional methodology of international law is inadequate for handling war-peace issues. While international lawyers should be faithful to the legal tradition of fact inquiry and judgment on the basis of legal norms, they should enlarge their perspective of international conflict and restructure their approach to the problem of war. The elaboration of this thesis is the subject of this note.

scholarly journals Problems of qualification of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the context of the process of federalization of the Russian Republic of 1917-1922.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.В. Бежанов
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
International Legal Personality

Автор статьи выявляет неверную квалификацию так называемого грузино-осетинского конфликта, вызванную ошибочной исторической интерпретацией международной правосубъектности сторон конфликта. На основании метода исторко-правового анализа документов и норм национального и международного права в настоящей статье описывается факт вхождения единой Осетии в состав РСФСР в 1921 году. На основании этого факта в статье рассматривается правосубъектность двух суверенных государств (ГССР и РСФСР) в контексте правомочности их юрисдикции на территории Осетии, для политико-правового анализа ответственности каждого из них за нарушение целостности Осетии и этнического суверенитета осетин. В силу неделимого качества этнического суверенитета осетин, она путем самоопределения могла быть передана только одному федеративному государству – Российской Федерации. Автор статьи квалифицирует конфликт как грузино-российский, что открывает совершенно новый подход к урегулированию конфликта посредством переноса его на открытый равносторонний международный уровень. Investigating the problems of the so-called Georgian-South Ossetian confl ict, the author of the article revealed an incorrect qualifi cation of the confl ict caused by an erroneous historical interpretation of the international legal personality of the parties to the confl ict.Based on the method of historical and legal analysis of documents and norms of national and international law, this article reveals the fact of the entry of united Ossetia into the RSFSR in 1921. Based on this fact, the article examines the legal personality of two sovereign states (the SSR of Georgia and the RSFSR) in the context of the legitimacy of their jurisdiction on the territory of Ossetia, for a political and legal analysis of the responsibility of each of them for violating the integrity of Ossetia and the ethnic sovereignty of the Ossetians. Due to the indivisible quality of the ethnic sovereignty of the Ossetians, it could be transferred by self – determination to only one federal state-the Russian Federation. Due to this fact, and the impeccable international legal personality of Georgia and Russia as actual members of the UN, the author of the article qualifi es the confl ict as Georgian-Russian, which opens up a completely new approach to resolving the confl ict by transferring it to an open equilateral international level.

scholarly journals TOWARDS AN INFRASTRUCTURE-BASED SOCIOLOGY OF DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY PRACTICES: THE 'PILOT CASE' OF RUSSIA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Musiani
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Multiple Challenges

"Digital sovereignty" is the idea that states should “reaffirm” their authority over the Internet and protect their citizens, institutions, and businesses from the multiple challenges to their nation’s self-determination in the digital sphere. According to this principle, sovereignty depends on more than supranational alliances or international legal instruments, military might or trade: it depends on locally-owned, controlled and operated innovation ecosystems, able to increase states’ technical and economic independence and autonomy. Presently, digital sovereignty is understood primarily as a legal concept and a set of political discourses. As a consequence, it is predominantly analysed by political science, international relations and international law. However, the study of digital sovereignty as a set of infrastructures and socio-material practices has been largely neglected. In this proposal, I argue that the concept of (digital) sovereignty should also be studied via the infrastructure-embedded “situated practices” of various political and economic projects which aim to establish autonomous digital infrastructures in a hyperconnected world. Although this contribution is also a call for a wider and comparative research programme, I will focus here on the “pilot case” of Russia, which is the subject of an ongoing research project. Ultimately, the analysis of infrastructure-embedded digital sovereignty practices in Russia shows how the Russian discourse on Internet sovereignty as a centralized and top-down apparatus paradoxically open up technical and legal opportunities for mundane resistances and the existence of “parallel” Runets, where particular instantiations of informational freedom are still possible.

Hijazi Self-Determination and the New International System

The Hijaz ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 99-130
Author(s):  
Malik R. Dahlan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International System ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Arab State ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
System P ◽  
National Liberation Movement ◽  
The Subject

This chapter covers Hijazi self-determination: as an experimentation of Hijazi nationalism through “ethnicity” and “territoriality” concepts of international law. The chapters cover the promulgation of the Arab Revolt and Arab self-determination, the dictating rules of international law, Arab nationalist movements as well as the claim over the institution of the Caliphate. It explores Hijaz nationalism after the breakdown of the dream of a unitary “Arab State” and its status in the League of Nations. The analogy brings in critical legal studies mirroring the past and drawing lessons from Japan and its denied discourse. The chapter covers the invasion and legal treatment of the conquest of The Hijaz and the Taif Massacre and rise of a new Islamic state led by the Wahhabi movement and recognized, ultimately, as a state by the Allies – Saudi Arabia. At this point The Hijaz transitions from being the subject of colonialism to the object of it in the new Islamic state. It covers Imam Ibn Saud’s negotiations with The Hijaz nationalist movement to safe statehood and his promise of Hijazi self-government under the principle of “The is for the Hijazis” to The Hijaz and the Islamic World. It also discusses the Hijaz National Liberation Movement against the British and new religious rule.

scholarly journals Frontiers of International Law Part One: The Chechen People

1996 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
René Lefeber ◽  
David Raič
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Reasonable Assumption ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
The Right ◽  
Legal Consequences

Let's assume, if only for the sake of argument, that the Chechen people have the right to self-determination. Since the massive indiscriminate use of military force by Russia in December 1994, it is arguable that the Chechen people's right to internal self-determination has evolved into a right to external self-determination, i.e., into a right to secede from Russia. This is a reasonable assumption as we, as well as others, have pointed out on several occasions. However, the legal analysis has not been taken beyond this point. In this editorial, the legal consequences of the lawful exercise of the right to external self-determination by the Chechen people will be explored, albeit tentatively.

scholarly journals Council of the European Union v. Front Populaire pour la Libération de la Saguia-El-Hamra et Du Rio de Oro (Front Polisario)

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 731-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed Odermatt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
Grand Chamber ◽  
The Eu

On December 21, 2016, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed an action brought by the Front Polisario challenging a decision of the Council of the European Union (EU) approving the conclusion of an agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom Morocco on the reciprocal liberalization of certain agricultural products. The CJEU held, based on the relevant rules of international law applicable between the EU and Morocco, that the agreement did not apply to the territory of Western Sahara. Apart from its obvious political overtones, the judgment is significant in further developing the CJEU's approach to the law of treaties and the principle of self-determination in international law.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document