'Remnants of Past Troubles': Defining Self-Government Among Territories
38 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2008 Last revised: 14 Jul 2008
Date Written: March 1, 2008
Abstract
The United Nations has declared 2001-2010 the Second Decade for the Elimination of Colonialism. In order to achieve this goal, the 16 remaining non-self-governing territories identified under Article 73 of the UN Charter must achieve self-government. But how is the UN to determine when that goal has been achieved? It is the argument of this article that the current definitions promulgated by the UN fail to provide any clear guidance, and conducts an empirical analysis, utilizing Qualitative Comparative Analysis, to compare non-self-governing territories and self-governing territories. It finds that the UN's lists of factors of self-government fail to provide an adequate explanation for why some territories are universally recognized to be self-governing, while others are still viewed as colonies of larger powers. It concludes with a new list of factors that can be used to make a principled determination of when a territory becomes self-governing.
Keywords: international law, territories, UN, colonialism, self-government, self-determination, empirical, boolean logic, United Nations
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