Edited by Jure Vidmar, Professor of International Law, Department of International and European Law, Maastricht University, Sarah McGibbon, Maastricht University, the Netherlands and Lea Raible, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, School of Law, University of Glasgow, UK

• Contents:List of contributors viiAcknowledgements xi1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Secession 1Jure Vidmar, Lea Raible and Sarah McGibbonPART I CONCEPTUALISING THE STATE2 State creation and the concept of statehood in international law 13Jure Vidmar and Lea Raible3 The law of statehood as a constellation of hybrids 29Jean d’Aspremont4 The principle of territorial integrity 42James Summers5 Self-determination short of secession 59Brad R Roth6 Successful secession and the value of international recognition 75Alex GreenPART II INTERNATIONAL PRACTICEPART II.1 DEMOCRACY AND DECLARATIONS7 Independence referendums in international law 92Daniel Moeckli and Nils Reimann8 Distinguishing between declarations of independence and secession 112Priya UrsPART II.2 CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES9 Scotland’s political and constitutional process: negotiatingindependence under a flexible constitution 128Silvia Suteu10 The secession question in Quebec 148Patrick DumberryPART II.3 EXTRACONSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES11 Secession of Kosovo 167Jure Vidmar12 Extraconstitutional secession: the Catalan case and its future 183Pau Luque13 Secession in liberal-democratic contexts: lessons from Catalonia 201Pau Bossacoma BusquetsPART II.4 DISSOLUTION OF STATES14 Dissolution of states 218Jure Vidmar15 The dissolution of the USSR 237Anne Østrup16 From velvet revolution to purple dissolution: dismantling ofCzechoslovakia from above 256Tomas Dumbrovsky and Kristyna UrbanovaPART II.5 CHANGING THE NARRATIVE: SPECIAL CASES17 Jordan and Palestine: union (1950) and secession (1988) 275Victor Kattan18 Seceding from failed states: reconsidering the case of Somaliland 293Sarah McGibbonPART II.6 REMEDIAL SECESSION19 Bangladesh and the right of remedial secession 312Abhimanyu George JainPART III CONSEQUENCES OF SECESSION20 The law of state succession: regulating the aftermath 331James Gerard Devaney21 Meaning(s) of illegality in secession processes 349Enrico Milano and Niccolò ZuglianiBibliography 366Index

‘Conceptualizing a Handbook on secession in international law based on the contributions of many authors is a particularly daring exercise in view of a historically controversial nature of secession. The Handbook takes a broad view on the concept and thereby succeeds in bringing forward a holistic approach to secession, which approach is to be privileged in modern-day international scholarship.’