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Modern Law of Self-Determination, edited by Christian Tomuschat. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1993. Pp. 347. $104.50 (hardcover).
Modern Law of Self-Determination is a collection of papers delivered at a Bonn symposium in 1992 on the role of the principle of selfdetermination in the post-colonial era. Many of the articles collected in Modern Law of Self-Determination deal with broad issues, such as who is entitled to a right of self-determination, under what circumstances may it be exercised, and, most fundamentally, what the content of this right is and will become. Underlying many of the articles is a recognition of the apparent tension between state sovereignty and the right of self-determination.
In the first paper, "Self-Determination in a Post-Colonial World," Christian Tomuschat discusses the history of the principle of selfdetermination. He points out that although the principle was sometimes interpreted to apply only to colonial peoples, the relevant legal texts actually provide that self-determination is a right of all peoples. The author points to the reunification of Germany as an invocation of the right of self-determination in a noncolonial context. The author notes that the general trend is for ethnic groups within countries to use the principle of self-determination to gain greater autonomy, turning it into a divisive, rather than unifying force. The article goes on to address the role of international law in conflicts that would have traditionally been considered internal before recognition of an international right of selfdetermination. According to the author, international law has essentially two options: it can consider internal disputes, the result of political factors it is not called upon to assess, or it can reject neutrality and evolve criteria for lawful and legitimate challenges to a state's unity.
In "The Issue of A Right of Secession-Reconsidered," Dietrich Murswiek attempts to reconcile the apparent contradiction between a right of self-determination and the sovereignty of states. The author concludes that the right of secession is a latent option that may be conferred on peoples only in exceptional situations, and that even this limited right is controversial. A right of secession is recognized where a people within a multi-ethnic state undergo intolerable discrimination. Moreover, based on Croatia's experience in the disintegration of the...