engleski

Between Two Unions: A Legal Appraisal of the Scotland's Right to Secession from the UK

Scotland’s contemporary demands for secession from the United Kingdom (UK) are both complex and intriguing, as well as fundamentally different from other similar demands in highly developed democratic societies. Initially, British authorities took a pragmatic stance and instead of ignoring and resisting, under reasoned legal and political moves in the 2014 referendum, they temporarily succeeded in persuading Scottish voters to remain in the UK. However, as early as in 2016, the UK European Union membership referendum results showed that, contrary to the will of the rest of the country, Scotland voted in favor of the UK staying in the EU. This fact has become crucial to the reawakened Scottish pro-secession forces who are now seeking a new Scottish independence referendum based on substantially changed circumstances. The legal debate over whether the complex and controversial right of a people to self-determination also includes the right to secession has been going on continuously for decades. Self- determination was primarily concerned with oppressed and disenfranchised peoples so that the situation when such a claim arises in developed democratic states is a kind of anomaly. In this context, the paper provides a legal analysis of the debate as to how crucial the argument is that based on Brexit-related substantially changed circumstances, Scotland has a legal basis to seek an exit from the UK, and whether Scotland is entitled to a new secession referendum, and whether such a referendum, as well as secession in general, can be legal and legitimate in terms of international and UK law.

secession ; self-determination ; Scotland ; United Kingdom ; European Union

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