Sub-State Nationalism and International Law

This Article explores the relationship between international law, defined broadly as the principles, norms, and rules governing the international order and the aspirations for collective self-government by minority national communities. It argues that there will be increasing challenges to the current international legal rules by minority nationalists, and that it is important to develop a principled response to this challenge. It also argues that the current system privileges state actors to a great extent, and that any attempt to channel self-determination claims in a more benign, non-secessionist direction needs to address the statecentric biases of the current rules.