Also presented as the author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Zurich, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 486-590).

Thesis--Universität Bonn, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [284]-310) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 321-327). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The decade following the close of the Second World War has been dominated throughout by the clash of political power of the United States and the Soviet Union. Their wartime alliance has crumbled. New, antagonistic alliances have come into existence. The so-called 'EastWest' split, polar in its effect, has forced the admission that prospects of stable peace depend on how successfully bridges can be made to span the gulf. This over-riding and pervading reality has blinded us to the importance of another struggle, which is everywhere mounting in force and intensity and which history may well record as a dominant theme of the twentieth century -- the world-wide struggle for independence. In some cases it has produced revolution and violence: full-scale wars have been fought in its cause in Indonesia and Indo-China; military engagements have taken place in Kenya and Tunisia; Cypriots and British garrison forces have exchanged fire; Malayans have rioted; and 'incidents' too numerous to detail have been reported from a great variety of countries where political dependence exists. Intro., p. 1.

My thesis is that Indigenous peoples, as distinct people, are entitled to the full affirmation and explicit recognition of the right to self-determination in the context of the draft U N Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in international law generally. The international community, and in particular, the nation-state members of the United Nations must uphold their legally binding international obligations in this regard. My methodology has been to utilize the human rights framework and approach, as well as rights discourse to advance this thesis. In addition, I am relying upon my direct participation in this important standard setting process, as well as the writings of various publicists. The right of peoples to self-determination is considered by numerous international authorities to be jus cogens or a peremptory norm. Similarly, the prohibition of racial discrimination is considered by numerous authorities to be a peremptory norm. Throughout the draft Declaration debate, a number of states have proposed wording that would dramatically alter the scope and content of the right to selfdetermination, thereby limiting, qualifying or modifying this right in the context of indigenous peoples. Any state proposals to qualify, limit or modify the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination would be racially discriminatory. If Article 3 of the draft Declaration were to be altered - even to include the same or similar notions as might currently exist under international law - it would invite interpretations to be applied to indigenous peoples' right to self-determination that are different from those of other peoples. It might also have the effect of wrongfully freezing the interpretation of this indigenous human right, in such a manner as to prevent or otherwise stifle its natural evolution under international law. If there is no equality of application of the rule of law in the context of international law and states succeed in introducing discriminatory double standards in connection to indigenous peoples and their fundamental right to self-determination, then the failure of the human rights framework, the United Nations system and nation-states themselves will seriously erode the very concepts of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

This thesis looks at the problem of governance and statehood in Africa from an international law perspective. Adopting a comparative analytical research method, the thesis investigated the idea of statehood in traditional Africa and Europe, and highlighted conceptual differences. It traced the origin and nature of the post colonial African state to an oppressive and totalitarian colonial state; and the coalescence of international law with European civilization and reality. The argument is made that the international law framework on statehood and international solutions of intervention and democratization, are inadequate for dealing with the problems of statehood in Africa and its consequences such as state collapse. The thesis proposes the legitimization of the African post colonial state through a combination of a process of self determination and democratization. The pattern of self determination proposed seeks to give normative expression to an African state's reality by using the equilibrium of the peoples incorporation and disengagement from the state as an index for determining the role and relevance of the state. It is proposed that this index, in determining the ambits of the right to self determination of the constituent political units in a state, should entitle an African nation to a minimum of the right to self governance in a confederate system. In complimenting the foregoing legitimization process, the thesis proposes a democratic framework that is constructed on cultural foundations of endogenous democracy and development. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

D.Litt. et Phil. / The new constitutional dispensation which came into being in 1994 rendered the Afrikaner people politically powerless in a numerically black dominated one-man-one-votewinner-takes-all system. In the face of a state policy bent on nation building and averse to minority rights, the need for a strategy to recapture their right to self-determination arises. Self-determination may vary from corporate/cultural rights to internal autonomy, to complete political independence in a sovereign territorial state. With selfdetermination in one form or another as objective, the next question is whether the Afrikaner has the will to survive. The Afrikaner is a divided people and the will to reassert itself seems dormant. However, there are increasing signs of a reawakening nationalism. Part of a strategy for selfdetermination should therefore be directed at reviving and mobilising the Afrikaner's will and ethnic patriotism. Economic empowerment is also necessary as part of the means to enforce its will and achieve its objectives. Strategy is largely based on values. An analysis of African and Western orientated Afrikaner values reveals serious differences in, inter alia, reality, economic and religious perceptions. This can become a motivating force for reasserting Afrikaner self-determination. Strategy entails imposing one's will on an adversary. No strategy is needed where there is no resistance or opposition. There are a variety of options for exerting coercion in order to force the opposition to comply with a freedom movement's demands for self-determination. A number of options can be proffered. Not all are equally appropriate or politic. Circumstances should dictate the choice. Some of these options are: The so-called soft option. This entails convincing the opponent that it would be also in his own interest to accede to the freedom movement's demands and, conversely, to his detriment to oppose those demands. The psychological or propaganda option, using methods of psychological persuasion to undermine the opposition's morale and encourage one's own people. It also serves to mobilise international opinion . which is becoming more sympathetic to ethnic demands for self-determination. The cybernetic option, utilising information technology and cyberspace as a weapon against the opposition and to enhance one's own organisation and empowerment. Physical violence as used by revolutionary forces, urban guerillas and other terrorists. This could be counter productive because innocent people are often targeted and even killed. These options may be exercised individually or in conjunction with each other.

The dissertation examines recognition of new states, the practice historically employed to regulate membership in international society. The last fifteen years have witnessed novel or reinvigorated demands for statehood in many areas of the world. The claims of some, like those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Croatia, Moldova, Georgia or East Timor, achieved recognition; those of others, like Kosovo, Krajina, Bouganville, Abkhazia, Somaliland or Chechnya, did not. However, even as most of these claims gave rise to serious conflicts, the practice has elicited little systematic scholarly reflection. Drawing upon writings of international society theorists, the dissertation looks at the criteria that have guided recognition of new states. It charts the practice from the late eighteenth century until the present. Its central finding is that state recognition has always been tied to the idea of self-determination of peoples and not, as is conventionally assumed, only since the end of the First World War. State recognition can be said to have (1) emerged as a coherent practice in response to this idea and (2) evolved chiefly as a result of the continuous necessity to come to terms with the dilemmas presented by this idea. Two versions of the idea have guided the practice - selfdetermination as a natural and as a positive right. The former, dominant from the 1820s to the 1950s, took as the standard for acknowledgment the achievement of de facto statehood by a people desiring independence. The latter, prevalent since the 1950s, took as the basis of recognition a positive right to independence in international law. The development of self-determination as a positive right, however, has not led to a disappearance of claims of statehood that stand outside of its confines. Groups that feel unhappy within the states they belong to have continued to make demands for independence irrespective of the fact that they may not have an international right to it. The study concludes by expressing doubt that contemporary international society can find a sustainable basis for recognition of new states other than de facto statehood. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

[No abstract] / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate