Timothy William Waters’
Professor of Law and Val Nolan Faculty Fellow
Associate Director, Center for Constitutional Democracy
Indiana University
Maurer School of Law
presentation on
Revitalizing Self-Determination: Conceptualizing a Right of Secession
Discussants:
János Martonyi, former minister of foreign affairs of Hungary, professor emeritus, University of Szeged
Anikó Szalai, associate professor, University of Szeged
Venue:
The Council Room of the Faculty of Law, University of Szeged 6720 Szeged, Tisza Lajos krt. 54. at 13.00 on February 21, 2019
In the organization of the Federal Markets “Momentum” Research Group (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, University of Szeged) and Department of Private International Law (University of Szeged, Faculty of Law) Professor Timothy William Waters had a presentation on Revitalizing Self-Determination: Conceptualizing a Right of Secession in the Council Room of the Faculty of Law, University of Szeged on February 21, 2019. Timothy William Waters is a professor of international law at Indiana University. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a former Humboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut in Heidelberg, he teaches and writes on international criminal law, conflict, and the formation of states. His book ‘Boxing Pandora: Rethinking Borders, States and Secession for a Democratic World’ will be published by Yale University Press this fall.
International law and politics have long distrusted secession, viewing it as chaotic, destabilizing and illiberal. But what if unchanging borders are the problem? Drawing on his forthcoming book, and drawing on the continuing dispute over Kosovo, Waters examined the untested assumptions behind the current orthodoxy around borders, arguing that a more flexible approach to secession might actually reduce instability and be more consistent with values of justice.
The presentation was followed by a discussion with the particiption of Professor Csongor István Nagy, Professor János Martonyi (former minister of foreign affairs of Hungary) and Professor Anikó Szalai.
