Great powers’ rule

The theory of self-determination and the great powers rule... 

Part I of this book will explore the theory of self-determination and will explain how the great powers rule has come to dominate self-determination struggles and outcomes. Chapters 1 through 4 will thus demonstrate how the legal theory of self-determination has become dominated by the political phenomenon of the great powers rule. 

Chapters 1 through 4 will therefore introduce the theory of the great powers rule and its application to recent self-determination quests. Part II will focus on case studies, which will demonstrate how the great powers rule has operated over the last few decades. 

M. Sterio, On the Right to External Self-Determination Selfistans, Secession and the Great Powers Rule , Minnesota Journal of International Law, 2010, Vol. 19, 137-146. 

The great powers rule or a new theory of self-determination... 

The fourth criterion or the great powers rule determinative of self-determination quests... 

The soundness of the great powers rule a melange of law and politics... 

See Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the great powers rule in East Timor. 

Explicit in this message was that Kosovo could never be a model for any other separatist movement, and that Kosovo was not about remedial secession or external self-determination. Rather, Kosovo was simply unique—because the great powers had decided so. Kosovo illustrates the great powers rule at its best, as well as the evisceration of legal rules on self-determination in favor of political determinations and strategic factors. 

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