Analysis of the Legitimacy of the Crimean Referendum from the Perspective of the Right to Self -Determination in International Law

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-422-8_19How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Crimean Referendum; Right to Self -Determination; International Law; Geopolitics

Abstract

The right of self-determination in international law has long been entangled with the tension between sovereignty and territorial integrity. Especially in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the 2014 referendum in Crimea to join Russia can be seen as a prelude to the Russia-Ukraine war. This essay analyses the legitimacy of the Crimean referendum from the perspective of international law, and argues that the right to self-determination does not include secession in international law by analyzing UN Charter, the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (e.g., Kosovo 2010), state practice, and so on. However, there are clear geopolitical factors behind the Crimean referendum, which behind this referendum is a collision of ideologies under geopolitics. The outcome of this referendum has a significant impact on the current geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, it may trigger territorial disputes for states and non-state actors dissatisfied with their inherited borders.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Ke Li
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/12
TI  - Analysis of the Legitimacy of the Crimean Referendum from the Perspective of the Right to Self -Determination in International Law
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Humanities, Wisdom Education and Service Management (HWESM 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 153
EP  - 159
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-422-8_19
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-422-8_19
ID  - Li2025
ER  -