Self-determination Of Peoples Research Articles

A Path Analysis of Self-determination and Resiliency for Consumers Living with Mental Illness.

Over the last three decades, resilience has become a key area in mental health research, practice and policy, due to its potential to positively impact on wellbeing and quality of life. Research findings have identified that resilience positively correlates with an individual's subjective sense of well-being and decreased mental health problems. Given the potential benefits of resilience for those living with mental illness, research should examine ways in which these individuals can increase their resilience levels. One such method of examining resilience in people living with mental illness is through a motivational lens. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) lens, this study examined the potential of a proposed model for understanding the correlation and influence of motivational constructs on the resilience of people with a lived experience of mental illness. Results illustrated a goodness-of-fit for the proposed model. Results can be used to illustrate the importance of motivation and self-determination for people living with mental illness.

Power, Ideology and Structure: The Legacy of Normalization for Intellectual Disability

Since its first formulation in English, the ‘principle of normalization’ has had a profound impact on policy and practice in the field of intellectual disability. Over the past fifty years, normalization, and Social Role Valorization, have drawn on liberal humanist philosophy, adopting varied and complex positions in relation to it. This article will consider an apparent structural correspondence between a discourse of ‘liberal equality’ with versions of normalization that emphasised conformity to social norms, and those drawing primarily on ‘liberal autonomy’, emphasising independence and self-determination of people with intellectual disabilities. Despite this seeming correspondence, the article eschews a structuralist account in favour of a discursive and rhizomatic model, in which the philosophical elements are seen as tactical forces deployed in the pursuit of wider strategic ends. The article concludes by highlighting paradoxes in contemporary thinking that can be traced to the legacy of normalization, specifically, the tensions between sameness, difference, equality and independence.

The Protection and Promotion of a People’s Right to Mineral Resources in Africa: International and Municipal Perspectives

Abstract Development programs in many African countries include the reallocation of land and the nationalization of mineral resources for the benefit of less privileged communities in those countries. Implementing these programs is, however, quite complicated. This paper pays special attention to the confiscation of the land of white farmers in Zimbabwe as part of a development program, and the rapid decline of the economy of that country in consequence of this program. It serves as a reminder that depriving landowners of their property rights is counterproductive and is therefore not a feasible development strategy. As far as the right to explore natural resources is concerned, the paper highlights the repeated resolutions of the United Nations proclaiming the “inalienable right of all states freely to dispose of their natural resources in accordance with their national interests” as an inherent aspect of sovereignty [e.g. G.A. Res. 626, 7 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 20), at 18, U.N. Doc. A/2361 (1952).], with occasional reminders that developing countries were in need of encouragement “in the proper use and exploitation of their natural wealth and resources” [e.g. E.S.C. Res. 1737, 54 U.N. ESCOR, Supp., No. 1 (1973).]. These resolutions were adopted in the context of the decolonization policy of the United Nations and were mainly aimed at denouncing the exploitation of the mineral resources of African countries by colonial powers [G.A. Res. 2288, 22 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 16), at 48, U.N. Doc. A/6716 (1967)., para 3]. The emphasis of international law relating to the natural resources over time also emphasized the right to self-determination of peoples. As early as 1958, the General Assembly, in a resolution through which the Commission on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources was established, stated that the “permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and resources” of states is “a basic constituent of the right to self-determination” [G.A. Res. 1314, 13 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 18), at 27, U.N. Doc. A/4090 (1958).]. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights similarly provides “All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it” [Art 21(1)]. This provision featured prominently in several judgments of courts of law, such as the one of the South African Constitutional Court in the case of Bengwenyama Minerals (Pty) Ltd & Others v Gemorah Resources (Pty) Ltd & Others [2011] (3) BCLR 229 (CC) (3) BCLR 229 (CC) and of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001), Communication 155/96, 15th Annual Report. AHRLR 60 (Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001), Communication 155/96, 15th Annual Report.) Communication 155/96. In view of these directives of international law, the paper will critically analyze the South African Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002, which deprived landowners of the ownership of unexplored minerals and petroleum products and proclaimed mineral and petroleum resources to be “the common heritage of all the people of South Africa” with the state as the custodian thereof.

Democracy and sovereignty vs international human rights: reconciling the irreconcilable?

ABSTRACT Developing friendly relations among nations founded on the ‘principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples’ and ‘sovereign equality of all its Members’ and encouraging ‘respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms’ are two purposes of the United Nations. Human rights are often understood to be ‘universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated’, but with hundreds of different peoples in the world how can that be? Democracy is another ‘universally recognised ideal’ and ‘core value’ usually understood to mean that a sovereign people through a democratic-majority-rule system of governance decide the rules of law by which they live. Are these concepts reconcilable? The tension between human rights and democracy is not isolated to Europe where states in the ECtHR system often object to human rights decisions by the court. A meta-narrative of constitutionalisation and judicialisation is offered to explain a complex global political context of human rights jurisprudence. How the ECtHR, a leading human right court, addresses this tension may be an important lesson for the global human rights movement; the court’s use of evolutionary dynamic interpretation and the margin of appreciation reflect these tensions. Will the court accept the invitation to be more respectful of democratic sovereignty or exercise increasingly strong judicial review such that contracting parties withdraw from the system? This is not only an important question for the success of the ECtHR but the wrong response could portend a dim future for the global human rights movement.

Референдум в Шотландии 2014 года: история и последствия

the article is devoted to the analysis of the referendum in Scotland in 2014 as a peaceful way of people's self-determination of this historical part of the United Kingdom. The author believes that the referendum is able to resolve the issue of sovereignty, and to prevent secession only if it is conducted legally and with the approval of the central authorities of states that are under the burden of separatism.

English

This paper discussed the Barotseland claim for statehood from the republic of Zambia with respect to the Barotseland Agreement (1964) signed between the Northern Rhodesian government and the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) in April 1964. In discussing the Barotseland question, using a qualitative approach, this paper considered the sentiments that fuel the reasons for seeking separate statehood by Barotseland pro-separatists. An analysis based on the criteria of 1933 Montevideo Convention on Statehood was made, and considerations were also made on the viability of these claims (for statehood) with respect to the possible ramifications of the grant of statehood. Self-determination of people is guaranteed and is a principle or right supported by the United Nations (UN) Charter within the rights of groups seeking self-determination. Ergo, statehood is a matter that requires the satisfaction of the criteria necessary for its pursuit. However, as this paper contended, the status of statehood is usually placed outside the domestic confines of where the claim is being made, and into the international realm. It is therefore imperative to consider these questions within the framework of Public International Law and Politics because ultimately, in a highly-globalized world, statehood or recognition of an entity as a state cannot be conferred without the involvement and resolutions of the international community through the auspices of the United Nations - in which case statehood is concretized as this gives a state legal personality. For comparative and illustrative purposes, the paper drew on some famous statehood questions from different parts of the world. This paper concludes that the Barotseland calls for statehood do not satisfy the 1933 Montevideo Convention and that the feasibility of a separate Barotseland is far from possible. Key words: Barotseland, independence, secession, self-determination, sovereignty, statehood, state recognition, Zambia.

Indigenous Criminology C. Cunneen and J. Tauri. Bristol: Policy Press (2016) 176pp. £48.00hb ISBN 978–1447321750

Indigenous Criminology C. Cunneen and J. Tauri. Bristol: Policy Press (2016) 176pp. £48.00hb ISBN 978–1447321750

Taiwan in the Caribbean: a case study in state de-recognition

ABSTRACTThe rich and complex recent International Political Sociology (IPS) literature on state recognition has completely ignored the process of de-recognition. The present article uses the case study of Taiwan’s efforts to preserve its ‘diplomatic allies’ in the Caribbean in order to fill this gap. Taking advantage of the IPS development of the constitutive theory of recognition, it introduces and analyses the concept of state de-recognition while emphasizing the deep contradiction between present international law principles and the political reality of national identity building as well as the de-linking of political science and international law understandings of recognition made possible by the progress of the constitutive theory. De-recognition is perceived as resulting in a hierarchical relationship between recognized and de-recognized political entities that is arbitrary and ethically questionable as it ultimately reflects the denial of the right to self-determination of peoples.

Can the subaltern listen? Self-determination and the provisioning of expertise in Papua New Guinea

Voice is a major concern in contemporary liberal-democratic politics, one that stresses the political importance of speaking (“giving voice,” “speaking up”). But in the Yopno valley of Papua New Guinea, where NGO and government projects are expanding, people's sense that they are losing control of their future has led them to worry about their capacity to listen, not their capacity to speak. In largely acephalous villages, people's self-determination seems particularly threatened by their ignorance of the true nature of their own actions. From a perspective in which the antecedents and the consequences of action are deeply unclear—a perspective stressed in the provisioning of expertise prevalent in political discourse—self-determination hinges on listening and gaining the understanding needed to shape one's future. [political communication, expertise, self-determination, voice, listening, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia] Long tingting bilong planti saveman bilong demokratik politiks na arapela manmeri tu, toktok em i as bilong paua bilong ol manmeri. Tasol, ol manmeri i stap long Yopno veli, wanpela hap bilong Papua Niugini, ol i no save wari tumas long tokaut. Maski gavman na NGO i laik wokim planti samting long hap, ol i no tingting planti long toktok tumas. Tasol, ol i wari planti long harim: ol inap long harim toktok na i stap fri o nogat? Long hap, ol lida bilong ples na gavman, ol i nogat paua long bosim ol manmeri bilong ples. Ol manmeri i ken bihainim laik bilong ol. Tasol, ol i wari olsem, nogut tingting bilong mipela i paul na mipela i no save gut long wei bilong kamapim ol samting mipela laik kamapim. Ol i lukim olsem paul tingting na nogat save em i wanpela kain kalabus. Olsem na, ol save tok olsem, ol mas harim gut toktok bilong ol saveman na kisim save. Dispela em i rot bilong bihainim tru laik bilong ol na kamapim samting ol i laik kamapim bihain. [toktok, saveman, bihainim laik, tokaut, harim toktok, kisim save, Papua Niugini]

Implementation of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of the peoples in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol

The article gives a legal evaluation of the mechanism of realization of the constitutional principle of equal rights and self-determination of the peoples in the newly adopted constituent entities of the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol - the city of Federal Significance. The principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples is understood in two ways: as political and cultural self-determination. The content of political self-determination amounts to the right of peoples to choose the form of their national statehood. The author concludes that the realization of this right is possible only within the Russian Federation. In the framework of the existing constitutional regulation this right can be implemented by the peoples inhabiting the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in several ways: by means of territorial separation of a any compactly living people and creating a separate constituent entity of the Russian Federation; by means of using the possibility to change the status of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation; by means of changing the name of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation; by means of combining two or more bordering constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the formation of a new constituent entity of the Russian Federation; by changing the borders between constituent entities of the Federation. The article analyses the mechanisms of realization of the right to cultural self-determination of peoples inhabiting the newly formed entities of the Russian Federation, the content of which is the right to maintain and develop their culture and language, traditions and customs. Particular attention is paid to the problem of cultural self-determination of the Crimean Tatars. Given the political activity of the Crimean Tatar ethnos, the article draws a conclusion that the regulation of inter-ethnic relations at the constitutional level in the Republic of Crimea requires a larger number of rules-guarantees in respect of its representatives. From the author's point of view, it is necessary to adopt a special law of the Republic of Crimea on the status of the Crimean Tatars. Also, the legal regulation in the sphere of circulation of the official languages of the Republic of Crimea, in particular the status of the Tatar language, remains insufficient. The author suggests other ways of addressing the issue of Crimean Tatars. The solution to the problem of their political selfdetermination is possible by means of reforming electoral systems. At the local government level, according to the author, the experience of constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the establishment of administrative-territorial units with special status can be employed.

Social Sustainability and Legal Guarantees of Cultural Identity​

The article presents an approach to the sustainability of the social system as a phenomenon of the preservation of society via the changes. The notion of “legitimacy” is actualized, expressing the correspondence of the existing law and order and acting authority to the universal principles of human and social life. Legitimacy is interesting as a social consensus, achieved in the dynamics of social life. It means the adoption of legal and political norms by the subjects of interactions and the lack of demand for power resources to maintain the legal order. Cultural identity is considered as a factor of social stability. The cultural identity of the people is connected, on one hand, with ethno-national and regional identity, and on the other hand, with the self-determination of people as citizens of an integral state and carriers of the historical values of a particular country. Legislative opportunities for ensuring the complex sustainability of multicultural social education are indicated.

Rough Drafts

Rough Drafts

Reinterpreting Exceptions to the Use of Force in the Interest of Security: Forcible Intervention by Invitation and the Demise of the Negative Equality Principle

This essay describes tensions that arise between two types of public goods enshrined in the United Nations Charter—the right to self-determination of people(s) within a territorial state and peace and security—in situations in which recognized governments in conflict-torn countries request military assistance from third states against opposition groups. It illuminates legal challenges in reconciling these public goods in practice, at a time when collective peacekeeping mechanisms appear unable to prevent or terminate civil conflicts and their destabilizing regional impact.

Psychometric properties of the AIR Self-Determination Scale: the Chinese version (AIR SDS-C) for Chinese people with intellectual disabilities.

The construct of self-determination has received considerable attention in the international field of intellectual disabilities (ID). Recently, there has been a rapid development of this construct in Chinese societies including Hong Kong. However, there is no locally validated instrument to measure self-determination in people with ID. This article explains the validation process of the AIR Self-Determination Scale - Chinese version (AIR SDS-C) adapted from the 24-item AIR Self-Determination Scale, developed by Wolman and his colleagues, which is used in school setting. People with mild/moderate ID aged 15 years or above were recruited from special schools and social services units in different regions of Hong Kong. Factor analysis and reliability tests were conducted. Data for a total of 356 participants were used for the analysis. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the factorial construct, and Mplus 7.0 was used for the analysis. The factor structure proposed in the original English version was supported by the data, and all factor loadings were between 0.42 and 0.76. The whole scale achieved good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.88 and ω = 0.90). The AIR SDS-C appears to be a valid and reliable scale. This study examined adult groups as well as student groups. The application of the scale can thus be extended to a wider population. The implications for theory building and practice are discussed.

We the peoples? The strange demise of self-determination

The self-determination of peoples is a fundamental legitimating principle of the international system; it justifies the system’s very existence. Through a vast diachronic corpus and pertinent data sets, this article nevertheless reveals a puzzling decline in the public discourse on, and practice of, self-determination over the last 50 years. I identify and assess four structural explanations for this decline: “lexical change” (replacing self-determination with alternative terms); “silent hegemony” (taking the norm for granted); “reactive rhetoric” (echoing conflicts and new state formation post hoc); and “mission accomplished” (rectifying the incongruence between national boundaries and state borders). Complementing these structural causes with agential reasons, I further suggest that powerful state actors and persuasive academics have sought to “tame” self-determination as both principle and practice, retaining the term but altering its meaning from a source of threat into a resource for containing it. Self-determination, however, has not been eliminated, and taming it may yet prove a pyrrhic victory.

Whither the Principle of Self-Determination in the Post-Colonial Era? The Case for a Policy-Oriented Approach

It is no secret that, since the end of decolonization, the principle of self-determination of peoples has been going through a veritable identity crisis. On the one hand, inconsistencies and double-standards are so commonplace in international practice as to justify the doubt that the law of self-determination is in fact power politics in disguise. On the other hand, a significant portion of the international community maintains that the principle has exhausted its historical function and applies only to a very limited number of hypotheses (e.g. Palestine or Western Sahara). Yet, self-determination of peoples and its jargon is still well entrenched in international legal life.Against this background, international lawyers are called upon to clarify how the customary principle on self-determination has changed in order to meet the challenges posed by the new global order. So far, however, the various attempts to overcome the colonial paradigm have not led to satisfactory results, being doomed to capitulate in the face of the fact that international practice in this field is either too poor or is inconsistent.The main reason for this difficulty lies in the penchant to conceive of the law of self-determination in a traditional, ‘static’ fashion, as a set of clear-cut rules whose content has to be distilled, ultimately, in the light of accumulated past decisions. I will argue, by contrast, that the principle at hand should be looked at in its ‘dynamic’ aspect, viz. as the ceaseless ‘process’ through which the international community provides an authoritative response to demands for self-determination. My working hypothesis, specifically, is that a valuable contribution to such an investigation may be offered by the policy-oriented jurisprudence developed by the so-called New Haven School of international law (NHS).

The Limits of Self-Determination and the Cases of Forced Separatism: The Example of Northern Cyprus

In the current essay, the writer will try to approach the cases of separatism and especially those of illegal separatism which are creating unrecognized or partially recognized states. It is true though that these cases, even of forced separatism, are matter which has been subjected to the international law and mainly to the principle of the security of a minority group and finally the right to self-determination. Although the principle of self-determination is respected under the Charter of the United Nations (article 1§2), it is still rather vague to define what kind of group is subjected to it. The Charter doesn’t provide much information about it and keeps the Wilsonian concept of “self-determination for people”, therefore cases of separatism are still under broad and heated debate. Although this paper will focus on the case of forced separatism in Cyprus and especially the case of Northern Cyprus, which has been separated from the Cypriot mainland after the Turkish invasion of 20th July 1974 and has proclaimed to be the independent “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”1 after 1983. Moreover I will try to focus on the aspects of the separatist arguments posed from the Turkish community for protection from the Greek paramilitary forces and the fact of the invasion which made the whole territory an occupied territory (S/RES/550, 1984) rather than an independent state coming from a legitimate secessionist movement. Hence the arguments and the methodology followed in this paper will move in a dialectic path by highlighting first of all the historical aspects of the case of Cyprus from 1878 and the British rule over the island. Afterwards we will mention the arguments supporting the cases of legitimate secessionism and we will attempt to give a possible definition of illegal and forced separatism which are carried out after invasions and territorial claims that are made under the safeguard clause of the United Nations Covenant of Friendly relations of 1970. These claims are tightly connected to the-so called but disputable remedial right to secessionism. The remedial right of secessionism is pleaded when the central government is adopting a discriminatory behavior against to a minority group with specific religious or racial characteristics by following strict political, economic and social policies on this community (Buchanan, 1997).

From independence to long-term stability United Nations efforts in Africa

Over the past 70 years, the scope of the work of the United Nations has expanded greatly, to include issues such as climate change, sport for development and peace, and road safety. When I look back however, I feel that the United Nations has played the most significant role in those areas that are at the core of the Charter of the United Nations: the maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of human rights for all and selfdetermination of peoples, and other economic, social and cultural issues including governance and development-related concerns. It has also proven itself relevant in providing hubs aimed at mobilizing and harmonizing efforts of Member States towards achieving its thematic goals.

Young adults with intellectual disabilities in Sweden: power, self-determination, and self-organisation in everyday life

Sweden has been one of the countries at the forefront of policymaking for people with intellectual disabilities worldwide. Culminating in the 1994 Swedish LSS Act (Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments), the aim of Swedish policy has been to ensure good living conditions and self-determination for people with intellectual disabilities. The primary purpose of this article was to explore Swedish research on the implementation of disability policies, and the extent to which the control that people with intellectual disabilities have over their everyday lives has changed as a result of these forward-looking policies. Swedish research that focuses on self-determination and was published within the last two decades was reviewed. Findings of the study have been drawn from 11 dissertations and 5 articles. As far as the author is aware, this is the first time these findings have been made available to a non-Swedish-speaking audience. Research reviewed included outcomes relating to self-determination arising from the process of deinstitutionalisation for residents of group homes and in individualised service planning. Results of the study have highlighted a gap between policy aims and service provision, which is similar to that described by scholars elsewhere; and that people with intellectual disabilities have limited influence over the decisions that affect their lives. The final section of the article discusses possibilities for increased self-determination arising from the self-organisation by people with intellectual disabilities, and new directions in self-advocacy that are emerging in Sweden.

Introduction: The Crisis in Ukraine Between the Law, Power, and Principle

AbstractThis special issue ofGerman Law Journal(GLJ) originates from a colloquium co-sponsored by theGLJ, the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, and the Center for Constitutional Transitions that took place at the Berkeley School of Law in February 2015, just over a year after the revolutionary events at Maidan Square in Kiev triggered profound changes in the geopolitical map of contemporary Europe and shook the foundations of international order.Beyond the gravity of the crisis itself, what animates the contributions in the following pages is an attendant awareness of the need to rethink the appropriateness of disciplinary responses to the conflict in Ukraine. Though the rhetoric of brazen takeovers, cynical ploys, stealing and redeeming, chronic authoritarianism and imperialism, hypocrisy, and broken promises have all contributed to a combustible political situation in and around Ukraine, a diverse sense of outrage has also been subtly, but nonetheless decisively, structured and amplified by the vocabularies of international and constitutional law, moral arguments, and their complicated interplay. Though differing in their practical ambitions, technical vocabulary, and the professional sensibilities they cultivate, the disciplines of international law, comparative constitutional law, and normative political theory, have each upheld one of the most important components of the modern social imaginary: The idea of popular sovereignty.The idea that the will of the people ought to be a decisive factor in resolving the crisis in Ukraine continues to unite most commentators, partisans, and scholars, irrespective of their otherwise profound ideological and political differences. From the perspective of overarching social imaginary, the ominous geopolitical crisis in Ukraine, while dangerous in its potential outcomes, appears as a family quarrel among the believers of the constitutional creed of western political modernity. Unlike another geopolitical crisis of our time—the attempts of ISIS to redraw the map of the Middle East—the situation in Ukraine is not a conflict over theexistenceof international legal order, but rather one over themeaningof its foundational building blocks: The internal and external self-determination of peoples, territorial integrity, and the sovereign equality of independent states.