ABSTRACT
This paper examines responses of states and intergovernmental organizations to the claims
of independent statehood grounded in the right to self-determination. Virtually all asser-
tions of independence invoke this right and it is highly probable that this long-standing
global trend will continue. At the same time, only a relatively limited number of them
are supported externally, either in the form of widespread public endorsement or outright
recognition of a new state. This paper argues that there has been a clear prevailing inter-
national practice for more than five decades. On the one hand, international society has
accepted self-determination claims to independence put forward by colonies and by
non-colonial entities that obtained assent of their parent states. On the other hand, it has
opposed claims set forth by non-colonial entities against the will of their parent states uni-
laterally. However, countries have been unable to maintain complete consistency and, in
recent years, great powers found themselves at profound odds over a number of cases.
These differences have led, and have a future potential to lead, to various forms of inter-
national conflict.
