Self-determination is a battle cry for more than 100 groups around the globe, including Quebec, Scotland, Aceh, and Tibet. Many of these claims have erupted into violent conflict or have the potential to cause regional instability – witness Northern Ireland, Chechnya, the Spanish Basque region, Kashmir, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The claimant group often seeks redress or resolution of the claim through international organizations, propelling ostensibly domestic issues onto the international agenda. In response, the international community has devoted a vast amount of resources to resolving these claims – UN peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, East Timor, and Western Sahara; other conflict resolution efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka; and conflict prevention efforts through institutions like the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. How should we understand these claims in International Relations?

This course examines the complexities of contemporary self-determination claims in order to provide the tools for developing comprehensive resolution strategies. We explore historical, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of self-determination claims, with particular emphasis on changing conceptions of sovereignty, borders, and identity. What is self-determination – who is the ‘self’ and what are they ‘determining’? How has this definition changed over time – and what are the implications of this evolution for outcomes? How could and should the international community address these claims? We apply theoretical lenses to three case studies, trying to isolate the political, ethical, and legal aspects of claims as well as highlighting interactive effects among these dilemmas in each case.