Title: Towards a new understanding of the right of self-determination in the post-colonial context: the case of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Author: Al-Mizory, Arsalan
Place of publication: Bangor, United Kingdom
Publisher: Prifysgol Bangor University
Release date: 2015

This thesis discusses the meaning of the right to self-determination in its historical and contemporary perspective, and examines the different options available for the accommodation of contested self-determination claims. Arguably, the creation of new States and secession are amongst the most significant and controversial issues pertaining to selfdetermination beyond the colonial context. Detailing these implications in relation to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), the thesis argues that even if secession is one mechanism to resolve self-determination disputes, this does not do away with the need to continue exploring a new
conflict settlement approach as an alternative to extremist secession. The proposed ‘Remedial Earned Sovereignty’ (RES) approach affords a way of assessing post-colonial breakaway movements in their different manifestations. A new entity may come into being lawfully through negotiated and consensual constitutional processes. [1]