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109-666: The plebiscites were held on 10 February and 14 March 1920, and the result was that the larger northern portion (Zone I) voted to join Denmark, which occurred 15 June 1920, while the smaller southern portion (Zone II) voted to remain part of Germany. The Duchy of Schleswig had been a fiefdom of the Danish crown since the Middle Ages, but it, along with the Danish-ruled German provinces of Holstein and Lauenburg , which had both been part of

218-424: A seigneur or "lord", 12th century), which gives rise to the expression "seigneurial system" to describe feudalism. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only

327-610: A Seigneur or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs existed long before baronies, and are historically part of Normandy . While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of the fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with

436-625: A Danish majority in this zone was produced in only three small villages on the island of Föhr , none of which were near the coming border, the Commission Internationale de Surveillance du Plébiscite au Slesvig decided on a line almost identical to the border between the two zones. The poor result for Denmark in Central Schleswig, particularly in Flensburg , Schleswig's largest city, triggered Denmark's 1920 Easter Crisis . A plebiscite

545-703: A European power by the grant of a League of Nations mandate . One of the German objections to the Treaty of Versailles was a somewhat selective application of the principle of self-determination as the Republic of German-Austria , which included the Sudetenland , was seen as representing the will to join Germany in those regions, while the majority of people in Danzig wanted to remain within

654-598: A form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal , who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill , held in feudal land tenure : these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms . However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms . There never existed

763-559: A free association of equal states. As India obtained its independence, multiple ethnic conflicts emerged in relation to the formation of a statehood during the Partition of India which resulted in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India. Before the advent of the British , no empire based in mainland India had controlled any part of what now makes up the country's Northeast, part of the reason for

872-485: A land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium (Latin). Later, the term feudum , or feodum , began to replace beneficium in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory

981-645: A minority can secede. In the United States Abraham Lincoln acknowledged that secession might be possible through amending the United States Constitution . The Supreme Court in Texas v. White held secession could occur "through revolution, or through consent of the States." The British Parliament in 1933 held that Western Australia only could secede from Australia upon vote of a majority of

1090-492: A minority has long been contested in democracies with majority rule. For instance, in his first inaugural speech Abraham Lincoln argued that: Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity

1199-532: A plebiscite in parts of Schleswig, but this had been rejected by the Danish government, and during the 1863 London Conference's attempts to defuse the Second Schleswig War , one of the suggestions of Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck was a plebiscite in North Schleswig. Bismarck's initiative was not adopted by the conference, primarily since the option had not been included in the instruction to

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1308-514: A plebiscite should be held within the ensuing six years in order to give the people of the northern part of Schleswig the possibility of voting for the region's future allegiance by allowing regions voting for Danish rule to be restored to Danish administration. The idea of a plebiscite had been presented earlier. During the early phases of the First Schleswig War , the secessionist government of Schleswig-Holstein had unsuccessfully suggested

1417-663: A result of the Germanisation process in the 19th century, 90% of the people in Danzig were German by 1919, which made the Allied leaders at the Paris peace conference compromise by creating the Free City of Danzig , a city-state in which Poland had certain special rights. Through the city of Danzig was 90% German and 10% Polish, the surrounding countryside around Danzig was overwhelmingly Polish, and

1526-404: A separate people, but under current law cannot claim the right to self-determination. On the other hand, she finds that secession within a single state is a domestic matter not covered by international law. Thus, there are no on what groups may constitute a seceding people. A number of states have laid claim to territories, which they allege were removed from them as a result of colonialism. This

1635-540: A standard feudal system, nor did there exist only one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations. In ancient Rome, a " benefice " (from the Latin noun beneficium , meaning "benefit") was a gift of land ( precaria ) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. In medieval Latin European documents,

1744-436: A territory subject to a historic territorial claim are prevented from exercising a right to self-determination. This interpretation is rejected by many states, who argue that Paragraph 2 of UN Resolution 1514(XV) states that "all peoples have the right to self-determination" and Paragraph 6 cannot be used to justify territorial claims. The original purpose of Paragraph 6 was "to ensure that acts of self-determination occur within

1853-512: Is a sizable minority group. In democratic societies, majority rule is often used to determine the outcome in electoral and voting processes. However, a major critique of majority rule is that it may result in the tyranny of the majority , especially in cases in which a simple majority is used in order to determine outcome. This flaw is particularly poignant when there is a large minority group whose interests are not being represented, and who may then seek to secede. The right to self-determination by

1962-428: Is defined as the entire population of the occupied territorial unit, no matter their other differences. Meanwhile, in cases where people lack representation by a state's government, the unrepresented become a defined as a separate people. Present international law does not recognize ethnic and other minorities as separate peoples, with the notable exception of cases in which such groups are systematically disenfranchised by

2071-437: Is first attested around 1250–1300 (Middle English); the word "fief" from around 1605–1615. In French, the term fief is found from the middle of the 13th century (Old French), derived from the 11th-century terms feu , fie . The odd appearance of the second f in the form fief may be due to influence from the verb fiever 'to grant in fee'. In French, one also finds seigneurie (land and rights possessed by

2180-461: Is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. However, liberal proponents for the right to self-determination by minority groups contradict this notion by arguing that, in cases where the minority is not able to become the majority, and that minority is territorially concentrated and does not want to be governed by

2289-461: Is justified by reference to Paragraph 6 of UN Resolution 1514(XV), which states that any attempt "aimed at partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter". This, it is claimed, applies to situations where the territorial integrity of a state had been disrupted by colonisation, so that the people of

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2398-467: Is no contradiction between the principles of self-determination and territorial integrity, with the latter taking precedence. Allen Buchanan , author of seven books on self-determination and secession, supports territorial integrity as a moral and legal aspect of constitutional democracy. However, he also advances a "Remedial Rights Only Theory" where a group has "a general right to secede if and only if it has suffered certain injustices, for which secession

2507-585: Is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action." During World War II , the principle was included in the Atlantic Charter , jointly declared on 14 August 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt , President of the United States, and Winston Churchill , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who pledged The Eight Principal points of the Charter. It was recognized as an international legal right after it

2616-547: Is not a recognized legal definition of "peoples" in international law. Indeed, Ivor Jennings called Wilson's doctrine "ridiculous" because, though on the surface it seems reasonable to "let the people decide", in practice "the people cannot decide until someone decides who are the people". Reviewing various international judgements and UN resolutions, Vita Gudeleviciute of Vytautas Magnus University Law School finds that, in cases of non-self-governing peoples (colonized and/or indigenous) and foreign military occupation, "a people"

2725-549: Is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd , in which *fehu means "cattle" and -ôd means "goods", implying "a moveable object of value". When land replaced currency as the primary store of value , the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium . This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century. A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis

2834-508: Is that the origin of 'fief' is not feudum (or feodum ), but rather foderum , the earliest attested use being in Astronomus 's Vita Hludovici (840). In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says "annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant" , which can be translated as "(Louis forbade that) military provender which they popularly call 'fodder' (be furnished)." In

2943-419: Is the appropriate remedy of last resort." He also would recognize secession if the state grants, or the constitution includes, a right to secede. Vita Gudeleviciute holds that in cases of non-self-governing peoples and foreign military occupation the principle of self-determination trumps that of territorial integrity. In cases where people lack representation by a state's government, they also may be considered

3052-532: Is the will of the people that makes a state legitimate. This implies a people should be free to choose their own state and its territorial boundaries. However, there are far more self-identified nations than there are existing states and there is no legal process to redraw state boundaries according to the will of these peoples. According to the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the UN, ICJ and international law experts, there

3161-457: The American and French revolutions, and the emergence of nationalism . The European revolutions of 1848 , the post-World War I settlement at Versailles , and the decolonization movement after World War II shaped and established the norm in international law. The American Revolution has been seen as the earliest assertion of the right of national and democratic self-determination, as well as

3270-702: The Atlantic Charter and accepted the principle of self-determination. In January 1942 twenty-six states signed the Declaration by United Nations , which accepted those principles. The ratification of the United Nations Charter in 1945 at the end of World War II placed the right of self-determination into the framework of international law and diplomacy. On 14 December 1960, the United Nations General Assembly adopted United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) subtitled " Declaration on

3379-682: The Chinese Civil War . The Korean War shifted the focus of the Cold War from Europe to Asia, where competing superpowers took advantage of decolonization to spread their influence. In 1947, India gained independence from the British Empire . The empire was in decline but adapted to these circumstances by creating the British Commonwealth —since 1949 the Commonwealth of Nations —which is

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3488-599: The Empire of Japan renounced control over many of its former possessions including Korea , Sakhalin Island , and Taiwan . In none of these areas were the opinions of affected people consulted, or given significant priority. Korea was specifically granted independence but the receiver of various other areas was not stated in the Treaty of San Francisco , giving Taiwan de facto independence although its political status continues to be ambiguous. In 1941 Allies of World War II declared

3597-533: The Habsburg empire . However, this imposition of states where some nationalities (especially Poles , Czechs , and Serbs and Romanians ) were given power over nationalities who disliked and distrusted them was eventually used as a pretext for German aggression in World War II . Wilson publicly argued that the agreements made in the aftermath of the war would be a "readjustment of those great injustices which underlie

3706-644: The Holy Roman Empire , was conquered by Prussia and Austria in the 1864 Second War of Schleswig . Between 1864 and 1866, Prussia and Austria ruled the entire region as a condominium , and they formalised this arrangement in the 1865 Gastein Convention . The condominium was terminated due to the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Article 5 of the Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague (1866) stipulated that

3815-564: The Indian independence movement . And Italy, Japan and Germany all initiated new efforts to bring certain territories under their control, leading to World War II. In particular, the National Socialist Program invoked this right of nations in its first point (out of 25), as it was publicly proclaimed on 24 February 1920 by Adolf Hitler . In Asia, Japan became a rising power and gained more respect from Western powers after its victory in

3924-681: The Reich . However, the Allies ignored the German objections; Wilson's 14 Points had called for Polish independence to be restored and Poland to have "secure access to the sea", which would imply that the German city of Danzig (modern Gdańsk , Poland ), which occupied a strategic location where the Vistula River flowed into the Baltic Sea , be ceded to Poland. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919,

4033-739: The Russo-Japanese War . Japan joined the Allied Powers in World War I and attacked German colonial possessions in the Far East , adding former German possessions to its own empire. In the 1930s, Japan gained significant influence in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria after it invaded Manchuria . It established Manchukuo , a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia . This was essentially

4142-592: The Social Democrats , both parties opposing an extension the area, versus the Liberal and Conservative opposition which both supported an extension of the plebiscite area. As a compromise, it was decided to request the Allied Powers to extend the plebiscite until Clausen's second line, which was adapted to include Flensburg and Glücksburg . In this smaller Zone II, each town – or, in the rural areas, each parish –

4251-476: The Soviet threat of seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced China to recognize Outer Mongolia's independence , provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20, 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence. Many of East Asia 's current disputes to sovereignty and self-determination stem from unresolved disputes from World War II. After its fall,

4360-772: The Special Committee on Decolonization to ensure decolonization complete compliance with the principles of self-determination in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV). However, the charter and other resolutions did not insist on full independence as the best way of obtaining self-government , nor did they include an enforcement mechanism. Moreover, new states were recognized by the legal doctrine of uti possidetis juris , meaning that old administrative boundaries would become international boundaries upon independence if they had little relevance to linguistic, ethnic, and cultural boundaries. Nevertheless, justified by

4469-418: The rise of nationalism led to Greece , Hungary , Poland and Bulgaria all seeking or winning independence. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels supported some of these nationalist movements, believing nationalism might be a "prior condition" to social reform and international alliances. In 1914 Vladimir Lenin wrote: "[It] would be wrong to interpret the right to self-determination as meaning anything but

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4578-405: The 10th and 11th centuries the Latin terms for 'fee' could be used either to describe dependent tenure held by a man from his lord, as the term is used now by historians, or it could mean simply "property" (the manor was, in effect, a small fief). It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, when it received formal definition from land lawyers. In English usage, the word "fee"

4687-545: The 1866 Peace of Prague. Danes campaigning for implementation of the plebiscite promise, in the hope that it would result in the area being restored to Danish rule, often made a comparison with the French demand for return of Alsace-Lorraine . This comparison was regarded sympathetically by French public opinion and, although Denmark had not taken part in the First World War , there was considerable backing in France for taking up

4796-450: The 1920 plebiscites, Clausen's first line was closely imitated in what became the plebiscite's Zone I, while his second line became the basis of Zone II, although the plebiscite zone was extended to include the city of Flensburg and the town of Glücksburg . Clausen had excluded both from his two lines. Zone I was based on Clausen's estimations of the local population's national self-identification. When in doubt, Clausen primarily relied on

4905-787: The 1990s Yugoslavia began a violent break up into 6 states. Macedonia became an independent nation and broke off from Yugoslavia peacefully. Kosovo , which was previously an autonomous unit of Serbia declared independence in 2008, but has received less international recognition. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president and the Soviet Union dissolved relatively peacefully into fifteen sovereign republics , all of which rejected Communism and most of which adopted democratic reforms and free-market economies. Inside those new republics, four major areas have claimed their own independence, but not received widespread international recognition. After decades of civil war, Indonesia finally recognized

5014-749: The 19th century. The French Revolution legitimatized the ideas of self-determination on that Old World continent. Nationalist sentiments emerged inside traditional empires: Pan-Slavism in Russia; Ottomanism , Kemalist ideology and Arab nationalism in the Ottoman Empire; State Shintoism and Japanese identity in Japan; and Han identity in juxtaposition to the Manchurian ruling class in China. Meanwhile, in Europe itself,

5123-591: The Crown. Self-determination Self-determination refers to a people 's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage . Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law , binding, as such, on the United Nations as an authoritative interpretation of the Charter 's norms. The principle does not state how

5232-561: The Danish claims as part of the post-war settlement. After Germany's defeat in 1918, the Danish government asked the Allied Powers and the Versailles Conference of 1919 to include a plebiscite in the disputed North Schleswig region based on Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points as part of the Allied Powers' peace settlement with Germany, and this request was granted by the Allies. The plebiscites were held on 10 February and 14 March 1920 in two zones that had been defined according to

5341-399: The Danish delegation. The inclusion of the promise of a plebiscite in the 1866 Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague was a diplomatic concession to Austria, but was not implemented. The reference to it was subsequently dropped in 1877 by Austria and Germany . The 1864 border was confirmed in the 1907 German-Danish Optant Treaty, but Danish North Schleswigers continued to argue for a plebiscite citing

5450-640: The Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples ", which supported the granting of independence to colonial countries and people by providing an inevitable legal linkage between self-determination and its goal of decolonisation. It postulated a new international law-based right of freedom to exercise economic self-determination. Article 5 states: Immediate steps shall be taken in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories , or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to

5559-630: The League of Nations to decide if Japan had committed aggression or not, stated the majority of people in Manchuria who were Han Chinese who did not wish to leave China. In 1912, the Republic of China officially succeeded the Qing Dynasty, while Outer Mongolia , Tibet and Tuva proclaimed their independence. Independence was not accepted by the government of China . By the Treaty of Kyakhta (1915) Outer Mongolia recognized China's sovereignty. However,

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5668-517: The Polish delegation led by Roman Dmowski asked for Wilson to honor point 14 of the 14 points by transferring Danzig to Poland, arguing that the city was rightfully part of Poland because it was Polish until 1793, and that Poland would not be economically viable without it. During the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the inhabitants of Danzig fought fiercely for it to remain a part of Poland, but as

5777-567: The Soviet Union acknowledged the right of secession for its constituent republics. This presented a challenge to Wilson's more limited demands. In January 1918 Wilson issued his Fourteen Points of January 1918 which, among other things, called for adjustment of colonial claims, insofar as the interests of colonial powers had equal weight with the claims of subject peoples. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 led to Soviet Russia 's exit from

5886-608: The Soviet Union violated principles of self-determination by suppressing the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring Czechoslovak reforms of 1968. It invaded Afghanistan to support a communist government assailed by local tribal groups. However, Marxism–Leninism and its theory of imperialism were also strong influences in the national emancipation movements of Third World nations rebelling against colonial or puppet regimes. In many Third World countries, communism became an ideology that united groups to oppose imperialism or colonization. Soviet actions were contained by

5995-400: The United States which saw communism as a menace to its interests. Throughout the cold war, the United States created, supported, and sponsored regimes with various success that served their economic and political interests, among them anti-communist regimes such as that of Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Suharto in Indonesia . To achieve this, a variety of means was implemented, including

6104-420: The area by Prussian authorities. The Allied Powers granted this request but extended it, consequently entitling anyone who had previously lived in the region to vote in the plebiscite. Since a large number of German officials (notably railway officials) had been temporarily stationed in the area, this extension implied that these officials as well as their wives and any children of legal age were entitled to vote in

6213-403: The civil administration was only partially replaced in Zone I, and not at all in Zone II. Secondly, Denmark had requested that persons previously expelled from the region should be allowed to vote in the plebiscite. This was intended to allow previously expelled "optants" to vote, i.e. the families of locals who had opted to retain their Danish citizenship and who had consequently been expelled from

6322-399: The concepts of consent and sovereignty by the people governed These ideas were inspired particularly by John Locke 's writings of the previous century. Thomas Jefferson further promoted the notion that the will of the people was supreme, especially through authorship of the United States Declaration of Independence , which became an inspiration for European nationalist movements during

6431-462: The conclusion of the Irish War of Independence , as established in the Anglo-Irish Treaty , it was still included in the Statute of Westminster. This statute built on the Balfour Declaration of 1926 which recognized the autonomy of these British dominions, representing the first phase of the creation of the British Commonwealth of Nations . Egypt , Afghanistan , and Iraq also achieved independence from Britain. Other efforts were unsuccessful, like

6540-498: The cooperation of the U.S. President Ronald Reagan , Gorbachev wound down the size of the Soviet Armed Forces and reduced nuclear arms in Europe, while liberalizing the Soviet economy . In the revolutions of 1989–90 , the communist regimes of Soviet satellite states collapsed in rapid succession in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, and Mongolia. East and West Germany united, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into Czech Republic and Slovakia , while in

6649-424: The country as a whole; the previous two-thirds majority vote for secession via referendum in Western Australia was insufficient. The Chinese Communist Party followed the Soviet Union in including the right of secession in its 1931 constitution in order to entice ethnic nationalities and Tibet into joining. However, the Party eliminated the right to secession in later years and had anti-secession clause written into

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6758-540: The creation of united Malaysia . The Netherlands retained its New Guinea part from the previous Dutch East Indies , but Indonesia threatened to invade and annex it. A vote was supposedly taken under the UN sponsored Act of Free Choice to allow West New Guineans to decide their fate, although many dispute its veracity. Later, Portugal relinquished control over East Timor in the aftermath of Carnation Revolution in 1975, at which time Indonesia promptly invaded and annexed it . In 1999, Indonesian president B. J. Habibie

6867-416: The decision is to be made, nor what the outcome should be (whether independence , federation , protection , some form of autonomy or full assimilation ), and the right of self-determination does not necessarily include a right to an independent state for every ethnic group within a former colonial territory. Further, no right to secession is recognized under international law. The concept emerged with

6976-417: The documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation. By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a " relief " for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property). Historically,

7085-869: The early 1990s, the legitimatization of the principle of national self-determination has led to an increase in the number of conflicts within states, as sub-groups seek greater self-determination and full secession, and as their conflicts for leadership within groups and with other groups and with the dominant state become violent. The international reaction to these new movements has been uneven and often dictated more by politics than principle. The 2000 United Nations Millennium Declaration failed to deal with these new demands, mentioning only "the right to self-determination of peoples which remain under colonial domination and foreign occupation." In an issue of Macquarie University Law Journal Associate Professor Aleksandar Pavkovic and Senior Lecturer Peter Radan outlined current legal and political issues in self-determination. There

7194-410: The entire region should be counted as one indivisible unit, i.e. vote en bloc . This wish was conveyed to the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles , and became the basis for the plebiscite's Zone I. During 1919, political wishes in Denmark grew for the extension of the plebiscite area, and the issue became a topic of confrontation between the Social Liberal government and its parliamentary support,

7303-415: The established boundaries of colonies, rather than within sub-regions". Further, the use of the word attempt in Paragraph 6 denotes future action and cannot be construed to justify territorial redress for past action. An attempt sponsored by Spain and Argentina to qualify the right to self-determination in cases where there was a territorial dispute was rejected by the UN General Assembly, which re-iterated

7412-403: The ethnically Polish rural areas included in the Free City of Danzig objected, arguing that they wanted to be part of Poland. Neither the Poles nor the Germans were happy with this compromise and the Danzig issue became a flash-point of German-Polish tension throughout the interwar period. During the 1920s and 1930s there were some successful movements for self-determination in the beginnings of

7521-494: The fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the Loire , local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and

7630-403: The government of the state they live in. Other definitions offered are "peoples" as self-evident (from ethnicity, language, history, etc.) , or defined by "ties of mutual affection or sentiment" ("loyalty", or by mutual obligations among peoples). Professor Uriel Abulof suggests that self-determination entails the "moral double helix" of duality: 1. personal right to align with a people, and

7739-436: The independence of East Timor in 2002. In 1949, the Communist Party won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China in Mainland China . The Kuomintang -led Republic of China government retreated to Taipei , its jurisdiction now limited to Taiwan and several outlying islands. Since then, the People's Republic of China has been involved in disputes with the ROC over issues of sovereignty and

7848-590: The information called for under Article 73e of the United Nations Charter in Article 3", which provided that "[t]he inadequacy of political, economic, social and educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying the right to self-determination and independence." To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514, in 1961 the General Assembly created the Special Committee referred to popularly as

7957-509: The language of self-determination, between 1946 and 1960, thirty-seven new nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East gained independence from colonial powers. The territoriality issue inevitably would lead to more conflicts and independence movements within many states and challenges to the assumption that territorial integrity is as important as self-determination. Decolonization in the world

8066-447: The majority, it may serve the best interest of the state to allow the secession of this group. Most sovereign states do not recognize the right to self-determination through secession in their constitutions. Many expressly forbid it. However, there are several existing models of self-determination through greater autonomy and through secession. In liberal constitutional democracies the principle of majority rule has dictated whether

8175-603: The model Japan followed as it invaded other areas in Asia and established the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere . Japan went to considerable trouble to argue that Manchukuo was justified by the principle of self-determination, claiming that people of Manchuria wanted to break away from China and asked the Kwantung Army to intervene on their behalf. However, the Lytton commission which had been appointed by

8284-655: The ongoing insurgency in Northeast India . In 1971 Bangladesh obtained independence from Pakistan. Burma also gained independence from the British Empire, but declined membership in the Commonwealth. Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch Empire in 1949 after the latter failed to restore colonial control. As mentioned above, Indonesia also wanted a powerful position in the region that could be lessened by

8393-591: The orchestration of coups, sponsoring of anti-communist countries and military interventions. Consequently, many self-determination movements, which spurned some type of anti-communist government, were accused of being Soviet-inspired or controlled. In Asia, the Soviet Union had already converted Mongolia into a satellite state but abandoned propping up the Second East Turkestan Republic and gave up its Manchurian claims to China. The new People's Republic of China had gained control of mainland China in

8502-560: The people of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom. On 15 December 1960 the United Nations General Assembly adopted United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) , subtitled "Principles which should guide members in determining whether or nor an obligation exists to transmit

8611-449: The people's right to determine their politics; and 2. and mutuality (the right is as much the other's as the self's). Thus, self-determination grants individuals the right to form "a people," which then has the right to establish an independent state, as long as they grant the same to all other individuals and peoples. National self-determination appears to challenge the principle of territorial integrity (or sovereignty ) of states as it

8720-464: The plebiscite was held in Zone I , the later Northern Schleswig , where 74.9% (75,431 votes) voted to become Danish, while 25.1% (25,329 votes) voted to stay German. In three of the four major towns, especially in the southern region directly at the border with Zone II, German majorities existed, with a German majority as large as 70 to 80 percent in and around Tønder (plus southerly Udbjerg ) and Højer . It

8829-458: The plebiscite. Since many of the expelled pro-Danish "optants" had emigrated to the United States , the net result of this extension was a slight increase for the German results, and it was much more likely for a pro-German emigrant living in Germany to return to the region for the plebiscite than for a pro-Danish expellee who had emigrated to the United States to do the same. On 10 February 1920

8938-500: The political status of Taiwan. As noted, self-determination movements remain strong in some areas of the world . Some areas possess de facto independence, such as Taiwan, North Cyprus , Kosovo , and South Ossetia , but their independence is disputed by one or more major states. Significant movements for self-determination also persist for locations that lack de facto independence, such as East Turkistan ("Xinjiang"), Kurdistan , Balochistan , Chechnya , and Palestine . Since

9047-677: The process of decolonization . In the Statute of Westminster the United Kingdom granted independence to Canada , New Zealand , Newfoundland , the Commonwealth of Australia , and the Union of South Africa after the British parliament declared itself as incapable of passing laws over them without their consent. Although the Irish Free State had already gained internationally recognized independence at

9156-478: The right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals. The privilege of minting official coins developed into the concept of seigniorage . In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments ( feudal incidents ). However, knight service in war

9265-608: The right to existence as a separate state." Woodrow Wilson revived America's commitment to self-determination, at least for European states, during World War I. When the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in the October Revolution , they called for Russia's immediate withdrawal as a member of the Allies of World War I . They also supported the right of all nations, including colonies, to self-determination." The 1918 Constitution of

9374-407: The right to self-determination was a universal right. In order to accommodate demands for minority rights and avoid secession and the creation of a separate new state, many states decentralize or devolve greater decision-making power to new or existing subunits or autonomous areas . Self-determination can be at odds with the principle of majority rule and equal rights, especially when there

9483-493: The rise of nationalism in the 19th century and came into prominent use in the 1860s, spreading rapidly thereafter. During and after World War I , the principle was encouraged by both Soviet Premier Vladimir Lenin and United States President Woodrow Wilson . Having announced his Fourteen Points on 8 January 1918, on 11 February 1918 Wilson stated: "National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. 'Self determination'

9592-501: The risk of future conflict if the future border in the marshy West Schleswig followed either the Vidå river or a dyke . This caused resentment on the German side, as this implied that the town of Tønder (Tondern) would be included in Zone I. In 1918 and early 1919, the leading Danish political parties argued that the future allegiance of North Schleswig should be decided by a plebiscite, in which

9701-475: The second line (about 10–20 km or 6–12 miles further south) included a thinly-populated rural region in Central Schleswig, which Clausen believed had potential for assimilation into Denmark, as the population of Central Schleswig was pro-German in allegiance, but also Danish -speaking. In 1918, Clausen published a pamphlet "Før Afgørelsen" ( Before the Decision ) in which he strongly advocated that Denmark annex

9810-547: The service of mercenaries . A list of several hundred such fees held in chief between 1198 and 1292, along with their holders' names and form of tenure, was published in three volumes between 1920 and 1931 and is known as The Book of Fees ; it was developed from the 1302 Testa de Nevill . The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a group of several of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency . Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has

9919-440: The small town of Tinglev , in the city of Sønderborg , site of a substantial German navy base, and the city of Aabenraa . Like Tønder and Højer, Tinglev directly bordered Zone II. Both the latter cities, however, lay kind of "isolated" in pro-Danish surroundings. The vote in Central Schleswig ( Zone II ) took place on 14 March 1920, where 80.2% (51,742 votes) voted to stay German, while 19.8% (12,800) voted to become Danish. Since

10028-426: The so-called Tiedje Belt – and would have created almost equal minorities on both sides of the frontier instead of 30,000 to 35,000 Germans in Denmark and 6,000 to 8,000 Danes in Germany. Tiedje's Line was strongly criticised in Denmark, as it would have transferred a large number of pro-Danish communities south of the future border, and was refused by all parties in the Danish parliament. The plebiscite's entire Zone I

10137-413: The use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In Francia , Charles Martel was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a beneficatium or " benefice " in

10246-500: The war and the nominal independence of Armenia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Poland, though in fact those territories were under German control. The end of the war led to the dissolution of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire and Czechoslovakia and the union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia as new states out of the wreckage of

10355-439: The whole structure of European and Asiatic society", which he attributed to the absence of democratic rule. The new order emerging in the postwar period would, according to Wilson, place governments "in the hands of the people and taken out of the hands of coteries and of sovereigns, who had no right to rule over the people." The League of Nations was established as the symbol of the emerging postwar order; one of its earliest tasks

10464-413: The wishes of the Danish government, and based on lines drawn in the 1890s by Danish historian Hans Victor Clausen  [ de ] . During the 1880s and 1890s, Clausen had travelled extensively on both sides of a possible future Dano-German border, for which he published two suggestions. Clausen's first line delineated a coherent territory that he expected would vote Danish in a future plebiscite, and

10573-431: The wishes of the rural communities, which he considered autochtone ( indigenous ), in contrast with the North Schleswig towns, which he considered largely irrelevant due to their smallness and their less-autochtone population, notably the demographics of the town of Sønderborg (Sonderburg) which had become strongly influenced by the presence of a large German naval base . In addition, Clausen believed that it would minimize

10682-410: The zone delineated by his northernmost ("first") line, arguing that the territory north of this line was indisputably pro-Danish and should be considered indivisible. At the same time, he effectively abandoned his second line, as the population of Central Schleswig remained pro-German, and as he considered it vital that the future border should be based on the self-determination of the local populace. In

10791-653: Was contrasted by the Soviet Union 's successful post-war expansionism. Tuva and several regional states in Eastern Europe , the Baltic , and Central Asia had been fully annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II. Now, it extended its influence by establishing the satellite states of Eastern Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe , along with support for revolutionary movements in China and North Korea . Although satellite states were independent and possessed sovereignty,

10900-516: Was explicitly listed as a right in the UN Charter . Implementing the right to self-determination can be politically difficult, in part because there are multiple interpretations of what constitutes a people and which groups may legitimately claim the right to self-determination. As World Court judge Ivor Jennings put it: "the people cannot decide until somebody decides who are the people". The norm of self-determination can be originally traced to

11009-400: Was far less common than: A lord in late 12th-century England and France could also claim the right of: In northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, military service for fiefs was limited for offensive campaigns to 40 days for a knight. By the 12th century, English and French kings and barons began to commute military service for cash payments ( scutages ), with which they could purchase

11118-415: Was mostly this area that caused controversy after the voting, especially as these towns had been included north of Clausen's first line. Although Clausen correctly estimated Tønder to be vastly pro-German, he considered the town to be economically dependent on its pro-Danish rural uplands, and placed both the town and its uplands north of his first line. Local majorities for Germany also existed elsewhere: In

11227-487: Was not held in the southernmost third of the province ( Zone III which included the region south of Zone II until the Schlei , Danevirke , and the city of Schleswig ) as the population was almost exclusively pro-German. The Allied Powers had offered to include this region in the plebiscite, but the Danish government had expressly asked for Zone III to be excluded. The small part of the historical province located south of Zone III

11336-539: Was not included in plebiscite plans among the Allied Powers, and the same applied in Denmark, since the extreme south of the former duchy was considered to be a completely pro-German area. Selected results in detail: Directly after the announcement of the results from Zone I, an alternative draft for the frontier was made by the German administrator Johannes Tiedje . The proposed frontier would have incorporated Tønder /Tondern, Højer /Hoyer, Tinglev /Tingleff and neighbouring areas and also some parts north from Flensburg –

11445-486: Was pressured by Australia and the United Nations to give East Timor independence. The people of former Indonesian East Timor were given a choice of either greater autonomy within Indonesia or independence . 78.5% of East Timorese voted for independence, rejecting Indonesia's special autonomy proposal. The Cold War began to wind down after Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power as Soviet General Secretary in March 1985. With

11554-473: Was still going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215. Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes,

11663-409: Was to decide its own allegiance. Two other requests were made, which were only partially followed by the Allied Powers. Firstly, Denmark requested that the plebiscite area's German civil administration be replaced by an international administration. The Allied Powers replaced the German garrisons with a small international force, of 400 French soldiers disembarked from the cruiser La Marseillaise , but

11772-405: Was to legitimize the territorial boundaries of the new nation-states created in the territories of the former Ottoman Empire , Asia, and Africa. The principle of self-determination did not extend so far as to end colonialism; under the reasoning that the local populations were not civilized enough the League of Nations was to assign each of the post-Ottoman, Asian and African states and colonies to

11881-487: Was transferred to Denmark on 15 June 1920, and the territory was officially named the South Jutlandic districts , more commonly Southern Jutland , although the latter name is also the historiographical name for the entire Schleswig region. Fiefdom List of forms of government A fief ( / f iː f / ; Latin : feudum ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of

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