|
Sponsored Links
Self-determination is defined as free choice of one’s own acts without external compulsion, and especially as the freedom of the people of a given territory to determine their own political status or independence from their current state. In other words, it is the right of the people of a certain nation to decide how they want to be governed without the influence of any other country. [1] The latter is a complex concept with conflicting definitions and legal criteria for determining which groups may legitimately claim the right to self-determination.[2] Just as colonisation and colonialism have been practiced throughout human history, political self-determination has been cherished by people through history, the ancient Mesopotamian and later Greek city-states being early examples.[2] The revolt of the British colonists in North America has been defined as the first assertion of the right of national and democratic self-determination because of the explicit invocation of natural law, the natural rights of man and consent of, and sovereignty by, the people, ideas inspired particularly by John Locke’s writings. Thomas Jefferson furthered promoted the notion that the will of the people was supreme, especially through authorship of the Declaration of Independence which inspired Europeans throughout the 19th century.[2] The French Revolution also was motivated by and legitimatized ideas of self-determination.[3][4] During the early 1800s most of the nations of South America achieved independence from Spain. The American public, organized groups and even Congressional resolutions, often supported such movements, especially the Greek War of Independence (1821-29) and the demands of Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848. However, such support never became official government policy. After the American Civil War the United States government opposed self-determination for the West Indian islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John in 1868, the Hawaiian Islands in 1868. By the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1899 the United States supported its annexation without the consent of the peoples the former Spanish colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines; it retained “quasi-suzerainty” over Cuba.[2]
|
Self-determination Subcategories
Self-determination Articles
|
| 
