About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


32 U.C. Davis J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/ucdl32 and id is 1 raw text is: UC DAVIS JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW & POLICY Volume 32 Fall 2025 Issue 1 Self-Determination as a Pretext for Annexation Andrew Willis* Abstract. The right to self-determination is essential yet moldable. Whereas international law intended this principle to dismantle empires and free colonized populations, revisionist powers employ it to expand their domains. But these powers' justifications, ranging from ethnic reunification to economic security, have thus far proven difficult to counter because they exploit inherent ambiguities in self- determination and international law. This Article interrogates this phenomenon through a comparative framework, tracing the abuse of self-determination from Nazi Germany's past expansionism through Russia's present invasion of Ukraine to the United States' emerging ambitions regarding Greenland and Canada. This Article argues that protecting sovereign integrity requires structural reforms, clearer legal definitions, and transparent adjudicative bodies. Ultimately, this analysis seeks to advance a legal order where the international community can hold up self- determination as one of its highest ideals and cut out its misuse. * Andrew Willis is the 2025 winner of the Pritikin Award for International Law Writing and the former Editor-In-Chief of the Journal offnternational Law and Policy. This article owes a debt of gratitude to early reviewers Professor Chimene Keitner and Professor Raquel Aldana, Willis-Cabaluna family members including especially Diane Cabaluna-Willis, along with the incredible team of revisers at JILP led by Dabin Je and Ian Donnellan.