Abbreviations 1 Introductory Remarks and Structure 2 Approaching Secession 1 Secession: Paradigms of Legality and Legitimacy2 Political Expediency as a Weak Argument3 The Two Main Objectives of This Work4 Definitions and Approaches 4.1 Defining ''Secession'' 4.2 Situations beyond the Ambit of Secession 4.3 Differentiation: Non-consensual Dissolution of States 4.4 Expository and Evaluative Approaches 4.5 A Methodology of ''Law Plus .'' 4.6 ''Law Plus .

'' Applied 5 Secession: A Play in Three Acts 5.1 Secession and the Contentious Question of Territorial Integrity 5.1.1 Undermining from Inside 5.1.2 Undermining from Outside 5.2 A Right to Secession in International Law? 5.3 Secession, Secessionist Entities, and State-Building 3 The Object of Investigation: The Secessionist Entity 1 Some Preliminary Notes on the Choice of Terminology2 The Dilemma of Political Framing4 De Facto Independence and Its Repudiation5 Formal Declaration of Independence and Authentic Grievance6 The Absence of Recognition7 Consolidated Existence over Significant Time8 Disputed Facts 4 The Appeal of Statehood in the Context of Secessionist Conflicts 5 The Appeal of Law: Articulation of Interests in Legal Vocabulary 1 International Law as a Level Playing Field and Its Principles'' Open-Endedness2 Legitimacy as Substructure of a Legal Claim: Territorial Grievance3 Scholarly and Political Coverage of the Problem 3.

1 Problematic Paradigms in Legal Scholarship 3.2 Problematic Paradigms in ir Theory 6 The Conflicts of the South Caucasus in Focus 1 How these Conflicts Are Addressed by the Scholarly Community2 The South Caucasus Conflicts: A Short Biography 2.1 On the Selection of Cases 2.2 Abkhazia 2.2.1 Selected Conflict Factors and Escalation 2.2.2 Attempts at Conflict Management 2.

3 South Ossetia 2.3.1 Selected Conflict Factors and Escalation 2.3.2 Attempts at Conflict Management 2.4 Nagorno-Karabakh 2.4.1 Selected Conflict Factors and Escalation 2.

4.2 Attempts at Conflict Management 7 The Self-determination vs. Territorial Integrity Paradigm 1 Introductory Remarks: The Collision of Two Values2 The Deceptive Promise of Self-determination 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The ''Self'' of the Secessionists 2.3 Secessionist Entities Through the Prism of National Minorities 2.4 The Substance of Self-determination: Imprecise Parameters 2.4.

1 Introductory Thoughts 2.4.2 The National Minorities Avenue 2.4.3 Secession as Primary or Remedial Right? 2.5 The Fallacy of Remedial Secession 2.5.1 The Perception of Intolerable Coexistence 2.

5.2 Insufficient Reflection in International Law and Arbitrariness 2.6 Preliminary Conclusion: Self-determination and Secessionist Entities 3 The Deceptive Promise of Territorial Integrity 3.1 Introduction 3.2 A Fuzzy Principle: Non-intervention in Secessionist Conflicts 3.2.1 External Intervention in International Law: Procuring Secessionist Statehood 3.2.

2 Territorial Integrity and Secessionist Entities: Profound Limitations 3.3 A Special Problem: Humanitarian Intervention 3.4 A Special Problem: ''Confined to the Relations among States''? The Fallacy of Doctrinal Purity 3.5 The Special Problem of Uti Possidetis 3.6 The Special Problem of Kosovo and Its Implications for the South Caucasus 3.7 Preliminary Conclusion: Territorial Integrity and Secessionist Entities 8 The South Caucasus Cases and the Self-determination vs. Territorial Integrity Paradigm: Selected Questions Problematized 1 Introductory Thoughts2 Secession''s Fertile Soil: (In)applicable Legal Provisions and the ''Soviet'' West Virginian Concept3 Uti Possidetis : State Boundaries Amidst Conflicting Narratives4 The Timing of Applicability of Territorial Integrity in the South Caucasus5 Disputes about Violation of Territorial Integrity: Contentious Attribution6 The Profound Accusation of ''Puppet States'' 9 A Subject in Its Own Right: The Case for a European Engagement 1 Introduction2 Controversial but Existing Legal Status 2.1 The Futility of the Declaratory vs.

Constitutive Approach of Recognition 2.2 Secessionist Entities and Their Discernible Existence 2.3 Going beyond the Deadlock 3 Conditions of Engagement 3.1 Introduction: Setting the Stage for Engagement 3.2 Inaccurate Dichotomies: State-Building vs. Non-state-building Measures 3.3 Outer Boundaries in Two Directions 3.4 Refugees and idps 3.

5 Addressing Ethnic Diversity 3.6 Democratic Governance: Internal Legitimacy 3.7 Continued Dialogue with the Metropolitan State 3.8 The Functionalist Philosophy behind Engagement without Recognition: Moving beyond the Non Liquet Fallacy 10 Conclusion Bibliography Case Law, Legislation, Other Legal Acts Index.