ABSTRACT
For Joseph Mazzini, in the mid-nineteenth century, statehood was the only way to promote and protect national interests. This thinking is consistent with both early twentieth century formulations of self-determination, and contemporary theory and practice; United Nations (UN) resolutions and some political theorists explicitly link self-determination with political independence. This chapter proposes that the internationally recognised legal right of self-determination can and ought to be re-interpreted to allow for a limited right of unilateral secession as per Allen Buchanan's Remedial Right Only (RRO) model. It proceeds on the assumption that nations can promote and protect their interests, and thus be self-determining, without states of their own. The chapter suggests that in some cases, states have positive obligations to their constituent nations. These positive obligations are entirely consistent with the remedial justice model adopted here and are intended to make the ideal theory more practically workable.
