Commentaries on Lea Brilmayer, Secession and Self-Determination: A Territorial Interpretation: One Decade Later

Abstract

There was little reason to think in 1990 that secession might turn out to be an important topic. Since Secession and Self-Determination was published in The Yale Journal ofInternational Law, however, the Baltic states left the Soviet Union and the rest of the Soviet Union crumbled. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia fractured. Eritrea asserted its independence from Ethiopia after military success and then a democratic referendum. Quebec's separatist aspirations from Canada became front page news (along with the comparable aspirations of various of the indigenous peoples of Quebec). East Timor succeeded in its drive for independence. Prior to 1990, the only successful separatist movement had been in Pakistan, where East Pakistan had left to become Bangladesh. Other separatist movements, such as Biafra's war for independence, had failed completely.