The Right of Self-Determination of Peoples

The right of self-determination of peoples holds out the promise of sovereign statehood for all peoples and a domination-free international order. But it also harbors the danger of state fragmentation that can threaten international stability if claims of self-determination lead to secessions. Covering both the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century independence movements in the Americas and the twentieth-century decolonization worldwide, this book examines the conceptual and political history of the right of self-determination of peoples. It addresses the political contexts in which the right and concept were formulated and the practices developed to restrain its potentially anarchic character, its inception in anti-colonialism, nationalism, and the labor movement, its instrumentalization at the end of the First World War in a formidable duel that Wilson lost to Lenin, its abuse by Hitler, the path after the Second World War to its recognition as a human right in 1966, and its continuing impact after decolonization.

Author: Jörg Fisch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/09/2015
Pages: 349
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.07h x 6.05w x 0.77d
ISBN: 9781107688209

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2016

About the Author
Fisch, Jörg: - Jörg Fisch is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Zurich.Mage, Anita: - Anita Mage is an academic translator and doctoral candidate in philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.