ABSTRACT
The democratic basis for the Western nation remains a significant characteristic in the Western European perspective on self-determination. The initial position of the colonial powers, and thus Western Europe, was that the principle of self-determination as stated in the United Nations Charter referred to the recognition of the sovereignty of states and their obligation to respect the sovereignty of other states. In effect, ail members of the United Nations recognized the status of a sovereign entity as inherent in the concept of self-determination. While recognizing certain rights for national minorities, it was only to a recognized national majority that a right to self-determination was extended. Self-determination was identified with a right of subjugated peoples, as nations, to liberation. Rupert Emerson distinguishes between the peoples for whom self-determination was justified following World War I and those for whom it was claimed following World War II.
