Muddying the “Bright Lines”: The Crimean Claim to Self-Determination in a Policy-Oriented Perspective
Muddying the “Bright Lines”: The Crimean Claim to Self-Determination in a Policy-Oriented Perspective

Author(s): Daniele Amoroso
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, International Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: Self-determination of Peoples; Counterfactual Thinking; New Haven School of International Law; Principles vs Rules; Irredentism
Summary/Abstract: The Crimean case was characterised as one with clear “bright lines”, in which it is relatively easy to understand who is to blame and for what reasons. If we look solely at Russia’s incursion into Crimea we could hardly reach a different conclusion. However, this is only really part of the story. The other part is that accession to the Russian Federation arguably occurred with the consent of a substantial majority of the Crimean population – which raises the issue of whether the principle of self-determination should be of some relevance in the case at hand. In an attempt to offer an answer to this question, the paper has adopted a dynamic approach, which conceives of the law of self-determination, not as a static set of clear-cut rules, but as a ceaseless process by which the international community provides an authoritative response to peoples’ claims to have the forms and boundaries of political authority (re)shaped. In particular, the case is made for a policy-oriented approach, based on the teachings of the New Haven School of international law.

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