Author Archives: Alexandra Xanthaki

About Alexandra Xanthaki

Alexandra Xanthaki is a Professor of Law at Brunel University London, UK. She writes on indigenous rights, minority rights, and cultural rights in international law

Indigenous Self-Determination: A Response to Massad

This post is part of a symposium on Joseph Massad’s essay “Against Self-Determination.” All contributions to the symposium can be found here. In his essay, Massad argues that the dominant form of self-determination has actually been used to reject various nations’ claims to self-determination. States only became open to the recognition of the right of self-determination, Massad claims, when such recognition would not include independence. Massad draws analogies between the Palestinian case and the cases of indigenous peoples around the world and discusses how colonisers Continue reading →