Beyond the Soviet Invasion: Afghanistan and the Concept of Self-Determination

DAVIS ROOS

ABSTRACT

The concept of self-determination in public international law is composed of several strands of thought. This paper examines those various strands, and the tensions between them, through the lens of recent Afghan history. The years leading up to and following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 make particularly fruitful ground for a self-determination case study, because they highlight several of the concept's thorniest dilemmas. Specifically, Afghanistan's situation raises the following issues: which groups are eligible for self-determination; is self-determination an individual or collective right; and, what constitutes a violation of self-determination. Without offering a comprehensive theoretical solution, the author proposes ideas which would make the concept of self-determination more internally consistent, and thus more effective as an instrument of international law.

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Citation: (1990) 48(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 92.
Copyright © 1990. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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