Confining New International Borders in the Practice of Post-1990 State Creations
70 (2) Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (2010)
38 Pages Posted: 16 May 2012
Date Written: March 15, 2010
Abstract
When dealing with the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Badinter Commission applied the uti possidetis principle in order to “upgrade” internal boundaries to international borders. However, application of this principle outside of the context of decolonization remains controversial. Subsequent post-1990 state-creations nevertheless show a consistent practice of confining new international borders along internal boundary-lines. This article shows that such practice does not affirm the non-colonial scope of uti possidetis. Not just any internal boundary has a potential of becoming an international border in non-colonial situations – only boundaries delimiting historically well-established self-determination units have this potential.
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