Full Description
Disputes about sovereignty mainly arise in those cases where fundamental rights are infringed, or democratic participation denied, on account of the citizens' membership in certain ethno-cultural minority groups. Moreover, the fact that serious challenges to sovereignty can be detected even in ethno-culturally diverse polities, which by all standards qualify as fairly just liberal-democracies, can only mean that the complex relationship between sovereignty and the diversity challenge is in need of serious consideration and analysis. By observing sovereignty and diversity through the lens of a broader liberal-democratic doctrine, this book sets out plausible strategies to cope with the problems that evolve from this issue. Sovereignty and Diversity is divided into three parts. In Part I, various normative theories of secession are evaluated both in relation to philosophy and to political science. Furthermore, the value and possible role of the uti possidetis principle is discussed. Part II addresses the value of various other methods to accommodate population diversity as means to solve disputes over sovereignty - namely multiculturalism, federalism, and decentralization, as well as minority rights. Finally, Part III groups together three case studies - the first two dealing with the secession and partition theme, while the last one shows the potential of other, less controversial means to address tensions about sovereignty. This volume is a collection of updated papers presented at the University of Belgrade in July 2005, at the international conference "Legal and Political Solution to Disputes over Sovereignty - From Kosovo to Quebec."
