Resisting the end of self-determination: international responsibility and the decolonisation of Western Sahara

Abstract: Traditional historiography narrates a 21st century of new challenges, but critical scholarship denounces the persistence of coloniality. In Western Sahara as in Palestine, the degradation of the right to self-determination is a symptom; settler-colonisation, one serious consequence. Western Sahara has been on the UN’s agenda for decolonisation since 1963. First colonised by Spain, it was occupied by Morocco in 1975, but the Saharawi liberation movement continues. Now, world powers and representatives promote Morocco’s plan-to grant Western Sahara autonomy under its sovereignty-as the most “realistic”, further conceding to Morocco. Third parties thus rationalise or profit from this relation, but how to change it? It is also in the diplomatic realm that Saharawis engage, making this an international cause through recognition with implication. This seminar will address this endeavour. 

Speaker info: 

• Dr. Moara Crivelente, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, engaged in international solidarity, and  “emancipatory diplomacy".
• Hadi Kentawi, Representative of the Polisario Front

Moderator: Dr. Benjamin Klasche, Associate Professor of IR