Other entries in this encyclopedia trace the political evolution of the concept of self-determination and related topics. This short essay is limited to a discussion of attempts to define this elusive term in legal terms through international treaties and other texts. Anyone seeking “the” definition of self-determination would be disappointed, as many texts were deliberately ambiguous or even contradictory. Nevertheless, we must ultimately try to articulate the international norm of self-determination with such precision that it remains relevant in the post-colonial era. One of the first advocates of the right to self-determination was US President Woodrow Wilson. A month after his famous “Fourteen Points” speech to the US Congress in January 1918 (in which the term “self-determination” does not appear), he proclaims: “Self-determination” is not a mere expression. It is an imperative principle of action which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril. [1] Despite Wilson`s order, there has been no attempt for more than 40 years to transform self-determination from a “mere sentence” into a binding norm after tens of millions of people were killed in two major wars. While the League of Nations Covenant indirectly addressed the principle of self-determination (without using the word) in the mandate system it introduced, the identification of mandates and the implementation of the system depended entirely on politics and not on law. [2] In most territorial adjustments after the end of World War I, winners and losers were determined by the political calculations and perceived needs of the great powers, rather than by the groups that had the strongest demands for self-determination.

The scope of the principle of self-determination was analyzed by two groups of international experts appointed by the League of Nations to study the case of the Åland Islands, a culturally and linguistically Swedish territory that wanted to unite with its cultural motherland, Sweden, rather than remain in the new Finnish state that had become independent from the Russian Empire in December 1917. The first group of experts was aware that self-determination had not acquired the status of international law. He noted that although the principle of self-determination of peoples played an important role in modern political thought, particularly since the First World War, it should be emphasized that it was not mentioned in the League of Nations. of peoples. [7] The reference to “peoples” clearly includes groups outside states and includes at least areas without self-government “whose peoples have not yet attained a full degree of autonomy.” [8] However, as decolonization progressed, the vague “principle” of self-determination set out in the Charter quickly morphed into a “right” to self-determination. This development peaked in the decade between 1960 and 1970, when the vast majority of former colonies became independent. First, although the title of the resolution refers only to “colonial” countries and peoples, paragraph 2 largely refers to the right to self-determination of “all peoples”.