Decolonization and the right to self-determination

Abstract

The ideas about self-determination evolved from the Wilsonian understanding of self-governance - to a norm and drive for decolonization that changed the 20th century’s landscape. Despite its general proclamation as a right to all, the UN applied it as a “principle of saltwater”. Hence, the only legitimate right holder – colonial peoples could realize self-determination under several legal instruments and within the principle of uti possidetis juris that preserved the artificiality of the borders. The legal controversies of the decolonization processes are numerous and its loose end appears to be present up to now since the same principles were applied during the dissolution of the socialistic federations after the fall of the Iron Curtain.