Self-Determination

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EU–UK–Scotland: How Two Referenda Created a Complicated Love Triangle

February 18, 2013

Jure Vidmar is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Oxford Law Faculty, and Research Fellow, St Johns College, University of Oxford. His book Democratic Statehood in International Law: The Emergence of New States in Post-Cold War Practice will be published in March 2013. As has already been noted on this blog (here and here) Professors Alan Boyle and James Crawford recently drafted an opinion on the international legal consequences of the Scottish referendum on independence. The Boyle/Crawford argumentation is very straightforward and, in my view, a conventional and uncontroversial account of the applicable international legal framework. However, I see one potential problem which was not (or could not) be considered in the Opinion drafted in December last year. In January 2013, Prime Minister Cameron announced another referendum; this one would be on the UK exiting the EU. Which UK would exit – the one with or the one without Scotland? It is true that this referendum is not a legal reality at this stage and…

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Boyle and Crawford on Scottish Independence

February 12, 2013

Last month, Joseph Weiler's post on Catalonian independence and the European Union triggered a lively discussion here on EJIL!Talk (including Nico Krisch's reply). Yesterday's publication by the British government of a legal opinion by Alan Boyle of the University of Edinburgh and James Crawford of the University of Cambridge, entitled 'Referendum on the Independence of Scotland:…

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French Military Intervention in Mali: It’s Legal but… Why? Part II: Consent and UNSC Authorisation

January 25, 2013

In the First Part of this comment we have seen that reference to article 51 of the UN Chapter in order to justify Operation Serval, is problematic. We will now discuss the two other legal arguments used by France.  Consent of the Malian Authorities The argument according to which the authorities of Mali had…

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Catalonia’s Independence: A Reply to Joseph Weiler

January 18, 2013

Nico Krisch (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin & IBEI, Barcelona) Joseph Weiler's polemic on Catalan independence has certainly stirred up debate (see the comments on the piece), which is always helpful. But as much as I admire much of Weiler’s academic work, I find this intervention heavily misguided in…

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Catalonian Independence and the European Union

December 20, 2012

This post is part of an editorial that appears in the issue of EJIL (Vol. 23/4) that is published today ‘Vive le Québec libre!’ Who can forget de Gaulle’s mischievous and irresponsible speech in July 1967 during his visit to that hapless province, a catchphrase which has become since then the eternal rallying cry for Western tribalism. And now, joining…

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