The Necessary Indeterminacy of Self-determination: Politics, Law and Conflict in the Horn of Africa

Abstract

This article forthcoming in the journal Nations and Nationalism frames a special collection on Nationalism and Self-determination in the Horn of Africa. It introduces the key concepts (the Horn of Africa, self-determination and nationalism), discusses the international law on self-determination and demonstrates how the praxis of self-determination in the Horn of Africa has contributed to normative developments. On the basis of five case studies (pertaining to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan/South Sudan) this framework article argues that nationalism and self-determination have had different meanings in the political cultures across the different countries of the Horn of Africa and across time. Rather than dismissing the concept of self-determination on account of its different meanings and understandings, we contend that such indeterminacy is unavoidable and should be welcomed. Nationalism is driven by historical circumstances that are contingent and often transitory. Self-determination claims based on such nationalism are equally contingent and transitory. When the principle of self-determination gets translated into concrete legal entitlements (for instance, a referendum on independence), it tends to solve one problem only by creating others. Instead, the pursuit and realization of self-determination require constant political processes. The papers in this collection highlight the challenges in giving effect to the principle of self-determination, including its subjugation to power politics. But they also show how the concept of self-determination does some important work in support of the emancipation of oppressed peoples: it provides a means to articulate the right to collective political agency. In this regard it is quite distinct, and more emancipatory, than other recent innovations in international norm-setting, such as the responsibility to protect (R2P), which depoliticize the specific situation and undermine the political agency of the suffering population.