Self-Determination, Secession, and Disengagement in Public International Law: Voluntary Merger and the Problem of Reviving an Extinguished International Legal Personality in the Yemeni Case
Authors:
Faisal Ali
Journal: Multidisciplinary International Research Journal
DOI: 10.67373/mirj.2026.001.2.007
License: CC-BY-4.0
Abstract
This article examines claims relating to self-determination, secession, and disengagement in the Yemeni case from a specific legal angle: whether these claims should be understood as withdrawal from an existing state or as an attempt to revive a former international legal personality that was voluntarily extinguished upon the re-establishment of Yemeni unity on 22 May 1990. It proceeds from the premise that this distinction changes the structure of the legal argument, since the restoration of a former international entity differs from the secession of a territory from an existing state. Methodologically, the article adopts a comparative doctrinal legal approach, testing the claims under consideration in light of the sources of public international law, legal scholarship, international and comparative jurisprudence, and relevant Yemeni documents. The methodology section clarifies the limits of using political and contextual documents as materials for understanding discourse and claims, without treating them as sources that create legal legitimacy. The central argument is that a complete voluntary merger that has been internationally recognized creates a double legal barrier to claims seeking to revive a former international legal personality. First, there is no unlawful extinction that can be invoked. Second, a single internationally recognized state came into existence and has exercised international legal personality in the name of the Republic of Yemen. Accordingly, the concepts of disengagement or restoration of the Southern State do not, by themselves, create an independent legal right to external self-determination. It concludes that the approach most consistent with international law and comparative constitutional law lies in internal self-determination, transitional justice, reparation, constitutional guarantees, and equitable distribution of power and wealth within a single Yemeni state. Its scholarly contribution consists in constructing an analytical framework that distinguishes between secession from an existing state and the attempted revival of an international legal personality extinguished by complete voluntary merger.
Keywords: Self-determination, secession, disengagement, restoration of the Southern State, voluntary merger, revival of international legal personality