Editing Self-determination (section)

=== The Cold War world ===

==== The UN Charter and resolutions====

In 1941 [[Allies of World War II]] declared the [[Atlantic Charter]] and accepted the principle of self-determination. In January 1942 twenty-six states signed the [[Declaration by United Nations]], which accepted those principles. The ratification of the [[Charter of the United Nations|United Nations Charter]] in 1945 at the end of World War II placed the right of self-determination into the framework of international law and diplomacy.

* Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2 states that purpose of the UN Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/ |title=United Nations Charter |publisher=Un.org |access-date=2015-05-08}}</ref>
* Article 1 in both the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] (ICCPR)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm |title=Text of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights |publisher=.ohchr.org |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303001412/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2012 }}</ref> and the [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]] (ICESCR)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm |title=Text of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |publisher=.ohchr.org |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303114220/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2012 }}</ref> reads: "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. "
* The United Nations [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] article 15 states that everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of a nationality or denied the right to change nationality.

[[File:Colonization 1945.png|thumb|right|upright=1.7|Western European [[colonial empire]]s in [[Asia]] and [[Africa]] disintegrated after World War II]]
On 14 December 1960, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV)]] subtitled "[[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]", which supported the granting of [[independence]] to [[Colonialism|colonial]] countries and people by providing an inevitable legal linkage between self-determination and its goal of decolonisation.  It postulated a new international law-based right of [[Liberty|freedom]] to exercise economic self-determination. Article 5 states: Immediate steps shall be taken in [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories]],<ref name="nonselfgov">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/decolonization/nonselfgov.shtml |title=Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories listed by the United Nations General Assembly |publisher=Un.org |access-date=2014-04-10}}</ref> or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the people of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.

On 15 December 1960 the United Nations General Assembly adopted [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV)]], subtitled "Principles which should guide members in determining whether or nor an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under [[Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter|Article 73e]] of the [[United Nations Charter]] in Article 3", which provided that "[t]he inadequacy of political, economic, social and educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying the right to self-determination and independence." To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514, in 1961 the General Assembly created the Special Committee referred to popularly as the [[Special Committee on Decolonization]] to ensure [[decolonization]] complete compliance with the principles of self-determination in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV).<ref name="ReferenceA">{{sourcetext|source=United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514}}</ref><ref>[http://unyearbook.un.org/1960YUN/1960_P1_SEC3_CH4.pdf United Nations General Assembly 15th Session - The Trusteeship System and Non-Self-Governing Territories (pages: 509-510)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320074502/http://unyearbook.un.org/1960YUN/1960_P1_SEC3_CH4.pdf |date=March 20, 2012 }}</ref>

However, the charter and other resolutions did not insist on full independence as the best way of obtaining [[self-government]], nor did they include an enforcement mechanism. Moreover, new states were recognized by the legal doctrine of [[uti possidetis juris]], meaning that old administrative boundaries would become international boundaries upon independence if they had little relevance to linguistic, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.<ref name="Hensel">Paul R. Hensel and Michael E. Allison, Department of Political Science [[Florida State University]] and Ahmed Khanani, Department of Political Science, [[Indiana University]], [http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/Research/io05.pdf The Colonial Legacy and Border Stability: Uti Possidetis and Territorial Claims in the Americas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050528084649/http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/Research/io05.pdf |date=2005-05-28 }}, research paper at Paul Hensel's Florida State university web site.</ref><ref name="Gudeleviciute">Vita Gudeleviciute, [https://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2009/10/Gudeleviciute.pdf Does the Principle of Self-determination Prevail over the Principle of Territorial Integrity?], ''International Journal of Baltic Law'', [[Vytautas Magnus University]] School of Law, Volume 2, No. 2 (April 2005).</ref> Nevertheless, justified by the language of self-determination, between 1946 and 1960, thirty-seven new nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East gained independence from colonial powers.<ref name="Unterberger" /><ref>[[:s:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514|Resolution 1514 (XV) "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples"]]{{Circular reference|date=January 2025}}</ref><ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/independence.htm Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508055042/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/independence.htm |date=2012-05-08}}, General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960.</ref> The territoriality issue inevitably would lead to more conflicts and independence movements within many states and challenges to the assumption that [[territorial integrity]] is as important as self-determination.<ref name="Hensel" />

==== The communist versus capitalist worlds ====
{{See also|Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War}}

Decolonization in the world was contrasted by the [[Soviet Union]]'s successful post-war expansionism. [[People's Republic of Tuva|Tuva]] and several regional states in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Baltic states|Baltic]], and [[Soviet Central Asia|Central Asia]] had been fully annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II. Now, it extended its influence by establishing the [[satellite states]] of [[East Germany|Eastern Germany]] and the countries of [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern Europe]], along with support for revolutionary movements in [[China]] and [[North Korea]]. Although satellite states were independent and possessed sovereignty, the Soviet Union violated principles of self-determination by suppressing the [[Hungarian revolution of 1956]] and the [[Prague Spring]] Czechoslovak reforms of 1968. It [[Soviet–Afghan War|invaded Afghanistan]] to support a communist government assailed by local tribal groups.<ref name="Unterberger" /> However, [[Marxism–Leninism]] and its theory of imperialism were also strong influences in the national emancipation movements of [[Third World]] nations rebelling against colonial or puppet regimes. In many [[Third World]] countries, communism became an ideology that united groups to oppose imperialism or colonization.

Soviet actions were [[Containment|contained]] by the United States which saw communism as a menace to its interests. Throughout the cold war, the United States created, supported, and sponsored regimes with various success that served their economic and political interests, among them [[anti-communist]] regimes such as that of [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Chile]] and [[Suharto]] in [[Indonesia]]. To achieve this, a variety of means was implemented, including the orchestration of coups, sponsoring of anti-communist countries and military interventions. Consequently, many self-determination movements, which spurned some type of anti-communist government, were accused of being Soviet-inspired or controlled.<ref name="Unterberger" />

==== Asia ====
In Asia, the Soviet Union had already converted Mongolia into a satellite state but abandoned propping up the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]] and gave up its [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|Manchurian claims]] to China. The new [[People's Republic of China]] had gained control of mainland China in the [[Chinese Civil War]]. The [[Korean War]] shifted the focus of the Cold War from Europe to Asia, where competing superpowers took advantage of [[decolonization]] to spread their influence.

In 1947, India gained independence from the [[British Empire]]. The empire was in decline but adapted to these circumstances by creating the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]—since 1949 the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]—which is a free association of equal states.  As India obtained its independence, multiple ethnic conflicts emerged in relation to the formation of a statehood during the [[Partition of India]] which resulted in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India. Before the [[British Raj|advent of the British]], no empire based in mainland India had controlled any part of what now makes up the country's Northeast, part of the reason for the ongoing [[insurgency in Northeast India]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060824053616/http://www.apcss.org/Publications/Edited%20Volumes/ReligiousRadicalism/PagesfromReligiousRadicalismandSecurityinSouthAsiach10.pdf] p. 220</ref> In 1971 [[Bangladesh Liberation War|Bangladesh obtained independence]] from Pakistan.

[[Myanmar|Burma]] also gained independence from the British Empire, but declined membership in the Commonwealth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rothman |first=Lily |last2=Ronk |first2=Liz |date=2017-10-24 |title=‘The Turmoil of Burma’ in 1949: The Constant Conflict of Myanmar |url=https://time.com/4958097/burma-1949-conflict-turmoil-burma/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

[[Indonesia]] gained independence from the [[Dutch Empire]] in 1949 after the latter failed to restore colonial control.  As mentioned above, Indonesia also wanted a powerful position in the region that could be lessened by the creation of united [[Malaysia]]. The Netherlands retained [[Dutch New Guinea|its New Guinea part]] from the previous [[Dutch East Indies]], but Indonesia threatened to [[Operation Trikora|invade and annex it]]. A vote was supposedly taken under the UN sponsored [[Act of Free Choice]] to allow West New Guineans to decide their fate, although many dispute its veracity.  Later, [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] relinquished control over [[East Timor]] in the aftermath of [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1975, at which time [[Indonesian invasion of East Timor|Indonesia promptly invaded and annexed it]]. In 1999, Indonesian president [[B. J. Habibie]] was pressured by [[Australia]] and the [[United Nations]] to give East Timor independence. The people of former Indonesian East Timor were given a choice of either greater autonomy within [[Indonesia]] or [[East Timor independence|independence]]. 78.5% of East Timorese voted for independence, rejecting Indonesia's special autonomy proposal.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/30/east-timor-indonesias-invasion-and-the-long-road-to-independence | title= East Timor: Indonesia's invasion and the long road to independence | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=29 August 2019 }}</ref>