New contribution of Ass.-Prof. Dr. Christian Pippan

In September 2020, a symposium on “Referenda and Other Solutions to Territorial Conflicts after World War I” took place in Klagenfurt to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the Carinthian “Volksabstimmung” (Plebiscite) of 10 October 1920. The presentations given during the event by scholars from various parts of Europe have now been published. In his contribution, Christian Pippan sheds light on the historical development of territorial referenda from an international law perspective. He then addresses two pertinent dogmatic questions regarding such referenda: 1. Does international law, as it today stands, legally require the holding of a referendum – at least under certain circumstances? 2. Irrespectively of whether the first question is answered in the positive or in the negative: Does international law require states to comply with certain principles and rules pertaining to the organization of a referendum? 

The contribution 'Volksabstimmungen über territoriale Statusfragen im Lichte des Völkerrechts' was published in: Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld (ed.), Volksabstimmungen und andere Grenzlösungen nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg (Klagenfurt: Verlag des Geschichtsvereins für Kärnten 2020) 207-223.