Unilateral secession in international law

Abstract

4 Bibliographic note CHOWDHARY Chetan, Unilateral Secession in International Law: The cases of Kashmir and Catalonia, 84 p. Master thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Relations. Supervisor: JUDr. Milan Lipovsky, Ph.D. Abstract: In the recent times, unilateral secession in International Law has come under widespread discussion with the major issues revolving around the circumstances under which a minority group or sub-state can secede from the state incorporating it. The study focuses on the principles of self-determination, an important factor to secede from a state over which international law has an ambiguous stand. International Law regards unilateral secession to be legal only in the aspects of decolonization as a last resort, that is one of the reasons why Kosovo remains unrecognized by the United Nations. The study focuses on two important cases i.e. Kashmir and Catalonia and compares them with Kosovo and Western Sahara respectively to understand the stance of International law on their demands for secession. The examination of these cases reveals that historical violence and injustice are not the only factors influencing the secessionist demands in Kashmir; similarly, the reasons for the demand for secession in Catalonia extend beyond collective identity...