Historical Experience of Applying the Principles of the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and the Territorial Integrity of States on the Territory of the Post-Soviet Space
https://doi.org/10.55959/MSU2070-1381-102-2024-142-154
Abstract
The article analyses correlation of the principles of the right of peoples to self-determination and the territorial integrity of states with the collapse of the USSR, which became a geopolitical catastrophe and led to the emergence of conflicts based on the collision of these principles in the territories of the former Soviet republics. The article examines the political and legal aspects of the implementation of the right of peoples to self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity of states during the collapse of the USSR. The aim of the article is to prove that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not a precedent for the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination; on the contrary, the right of peoples to self-determination was not taken into account during this period. The collapse was a consequence of the failure of the policy to apply the principle of territorial integrity of states. The work uses such methods as the comparative historical method, political and legal analysis, and content analysis of the press. The main results of the work are the following provisions. Drawing the borders of states along the borders of the republics of the USSR led to the active promotion and implementation of the idea of mono-national states. The basic principle of the right of peoples to self-determination — the principle of equal rights of peoples — was violated. In the post-Soviet space, in particular in the Baltic countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, discriminatory policies were implemented to promote the interests of the titular nation. The withdrawal of the union republics from the USSR was a consequence not of the implementation of the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination, but of the application of Article 72 of the 1977 USSR Constitution. The results obtained can be used to adjust the policy of implementing the principles of the right of peoples to self-determination and the territorial integrity of states by the Russian Federation.
About the Author
M. S. Filatov
Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Mikhail S. Filatov, Postgraduate student
Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Filatov M.S. Historical Experience of Applying the Principles of the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and the Territorial Integrity of States on the Territory of the Post-Soviet Space. Public Administration. E-journal (Russia). 2024;(102):142-154. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.55959/MSU2070-1381-102-2024-142-154
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