The Limits of Self-Determination

The Case of the Katanga Secession

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3497587
AutoresRené Lemarchand (Université Libre de Bruxelles, autor de correspondencia)
Año1962
Volumen56
Número2
Páginas404-416
Fecha de publicación1962-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1952375
OpenAlexW2073760506
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas4

Not the least paradoxical aspect of the United Nations mandate in the Congo, as described in the three-power resolution adopted by the Security Council on November 24, 1961, is that it was designed to prevent the exercise of a right which is explicitly recognized by the Charter. In effect, by "completely rejecting the claim of the Katanga as a sovereign independent Nation" and "recognizing the government of the Republic of the Congo as exclusively responsible for the conduct of the external affairs of the Congo," the authors of the resolution clearly denied the provincial authorities of the Katanga the right to self-determination. Similarly, the support given by the United States government to the resolution, reaffirmed in several official statements, seems hardly compatible with our long-standing moral commitment to the Wilsonian principle that "the small states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity that the great and powerful states expect and insist upon." Actually, what may at first sight appear to be a sign of inconsistency is rather a reflection of the fundamental ambiguity in the concept of self-determination

Ambiguity · Charter · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Mandate · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Secession · Security council · Self-determination · Sociology · Sovereignty · Territorial integrity · United Nations Charter · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law