Publishers: National Defence Academy Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management Vienna in co-operation with: PfP-Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes Author: Prof. Enver Hasani, PhD Managing Editor: Capt Mag. Ernst M. Felberbauer Facilitating Editors: Andreas Buranich Michael Franz Layout: Zeichenstelle Landesverteidigungsakademie, Vienna. Production: Akademiedruckerei Landesverteidigungsakademie, Vienna. Address: Stiftgasse 2a, 1070 Vienna, AUSTRIA ISBN: 3-901328-81-5 CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................... 7 Chapter I Introduction............................................................................................ 9 Chapter II Fundamental Concepts ........................................................................ 17 1. The Content and Function of the Uti Possidetis Principle............ 17 2. The Concept of International Stability.......................................... 30 3. The End of the Cold War.............................................................. 39 4. Territorial and Ethnic Self-Determination.................................... 44 Chapter III Self-Determination: From the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the End of the Cold War ................................................................. 59 1. Dynastic Legitimacy (1648-1815)................................................ 59 2. The Balance of Power (1815-1914).............................................. 62 3. The Principal Manifestations of Self-Determination between the Two Wars (1918-1939) ............................................ 69 3.1. Lenin and the Soviet Conception of Self-Determination.............. 72 3.2. Wilson and his Views Regarding Self-Determination.................. 80 3.3. The Aaland Islands Case .............................................................. 84 4.1. The Process of Decolonisation: Territorial Integrity as a Means of Preserving Territorial Integrity .....................................94 4.1.1.The Case of Western Sahara .......................................................107 4.1.2.The Secession of Bangladesh......................................................111 4.1.3.Two Failed Attempts at Secession: Katanga and Biafra.............114 4.2. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe: Its Background and Beyond........................................................119 Chapter IV Self-Determination in the Former Yugoslavia: from its Creation to its Dissolution (1918-1992)..............................125 1. The Origins of the 'Yugoslav Idea' and the Serbian Nationailsm .......................................................125 2. The Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom: The Embodiment of the Principle of Self-Determination or the Hegemony of One Nation? ...............................................131 3. The Second World War and the Communist Conception of Self-Determination .................................................................143 4. Communist Yugoslavia: The Final Dissolution of the State.......151 5. From Greater-Serbian Project to the Serbian Insistence on State Continuity with Former Yugoslavia ..................................172 Chapter V The Dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Search for Self-Determination.................................................... 201 1. Northern Republics (Slovenia and Croatia) and Their 'Western Type' Self-Determination ............................ 201 2. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM): the Victims of the Balance of Power Within Yugoslavia......................................... 211 3. Serbia's War Aims and the Future of the Greater Serbian Project..................................................... 219 4. Serbian Transformation of the 'Autonomous Entities' into 'Sovereign and Independent Republics': An Arbitrary Interpretation of the International Statehood ........ 229 5. The Dayton Model for Kosovo................................................... 235 5.1. The Kosovo Albanian Way Pursued for the Achievement of Self-Determination........................................... 236 5.2. The End of a Sad Chapter: NATO Intervenes to Impose (an Internal-Type of) Self - Determination for Kosovo (March - June 1999) ................................................ 239 Chapter VI The International Community's Efforts to Prevent the Illegal and Illegitimate Way of Implementing Self-Determination within the Territory of Former Yugoslavia....249 1. The European Guidelines on Recognition of New States in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe ...............................................249 2. Work of the Badinter Commission and its Impact on the Crisis 259 2.1. Self-Determination......................................................................267 2.2. Uti Possidetis ..............................................................................274 3. Rule of Law, Democracy and the Respect for Human and Minority Rights..................................................285 4. Means at the Disposal of the International Community to Achieve its Goals Concerning Yugoslav Self-Determination ....289 Chapter VII Conclusion...........................................................................................301 Bibliography........................................................................................315 List of Acronyms ................................................................................365 Acknowledgments...............................................................................367 About the Author................................................................................371 Abstract This study analyzes the issue of self-determination, territorial integrity and international stability, within the Yugoslav context. However, it is not confined to the Yugoslav case of self-determination alone. The study stretches over other several cases of self-determination and analyzes the historical background of the phenomenon itself. The argument of this dissertation in terms of the history of self-determination, is that the phenomenon has gradually crystallized over the last two centuries. In addition, self-determination is viewed in connection with two other issues: territorial integrity and international stability. In fact, these two segments have been and remain intrinsic to every discussion of self- determination. The historical part of the problem also is comprised of scholarly work and the judicial practice that have lead to the final formulation of self-determination as it stands at the present. The conclusion of this study is that the Yugoslav case of self- determination should not be singled out from other similar cases of its time. This covers not only the period following the end of the Cold War, but also the period prior to the South Slav unification of 1918 and thereafter. In all cases, the Yugoslav case reflects the features of self- determination as they appeared at the times under discussion. Evidence of this is best seen from the last period of the Yugoslav self- determination after the Cold War. In this period, Yugoslav self- determination was nothing but a part of the wider picture of self- determination covering all former Communist Federations (Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia). This further supports the argument that the Yugoslav case did not set any precedent in terms of self-determination that could be applicable in the future: self-determination as a principle has not been altered. It remains a political principle with a moral value only, without any legally binding effect and the relevance for the future rests in the fact that it has further crystallized one of the aspects of self- determination, that is, the principle of uti possidetis. The Yugoslav case has shown that the fixed territorial borders, as a rule of international law and relations that limits the territorial scope of self-determination, is a rule of utmost acceptance. 7 The Yugoslav case of self-determination, however, has some unique features. It concerns the nature of nationalism of its constituent nations, most notably the Serbs. The interpretation of self-determination put forth by these nations was unique as compared to the whole Communist world that collapsed after the Cold War. Namely, they perceived self- determination in pure ethnic terms, thus excluding other nations from being beneficiaries of the same right. This perception was not without practical implications. The realization of pure ethnic self-determination resulted in ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs and the destruction of other cultures within the territory of former Yugoslavia. In addition to stopping the war in the territories of former Yugoslavia, efforts of the international community have also been focused on preventing the implementation of ethnic self-determination. The issue of human rights, the rule of law and democracy take prominence in the efforts of the international community in these regards. In some cases, these efforts have been combined with the use of force and sanctions against some of the Yugoslav actors. 8 Chapter I Introduction In the years following the Cold War, self-determination has been a frequently used concept. It has been associated with both ethnic conflicts and with wars causing large-scale human suffering and tragedy. In addition to this, self-determination has remained connected to two other concepts: territorial integrity and international stability. Together with these, the concept of self-determination