Self-Determination in the United States
The Measure of Self-government in the United States
Given the resources available to the electorate for informing themselves on all sides of every question, it has become an axiom that, in a democracy, the people get the kind of government they deserve. If the people are not well served by their government, it is their own fault. If government functions well, the people deserve the credit.
The true measure of a government lies in how well it has served its people in all kinds of circumstances, both favorable and adverse, in times of peace and stability and in times of national crisis. By this standard, the U.S. system of self-government has been reasonably successful. It has guided and nurtured the nation from weak and chaotic beginnings, through phenomenal expansion in territory and population, through drought, war and scandal. It weathered a bitter civil war that threatened to destroy the unity of the nation. It has on many occasions defended the principles of freedom and self-determination from attack by hostile forces from within and without.
Few Americans, however, would defend their country’s record as perfect. American democracy is in a constant state of evolution. As Americans review their history, they recognize errors of performance and failures to act, which have delayed the nation’s progress. They know that more mistakes will be made in the future.
Yet the U.S. government still represents the people, and is dedicated to the preservation of liberty. The right to criticize the government guarantees the right to change it when it strays from the essential principles of the Constitution. So long as the preamble to the Constitution is heeded, the republic will stand. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- “An outline of American government” (1980), by Richard C. Schroeder
See Also
Anti-Imperialism; Human Rights; Imperialism; Intervention and Nonintervention; Realism and Idealism; Revolution; Wilsonianism.
Anticolonial Movements; Autonomy; Black Power; Colony, Internal; Communalism; Dependency Theory; Indigenous Rights; Liberation; Minorities; Nationalism and Nationality; Palestinians; Politics, Identity; Secession; Separatism; United Nations
Further Reading (Books)
Bailey, Thomas A. Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace. New York, 1944. Contains a scholarly analysis of the implementation of Wilson’s concept of self-determination.
Balzer, Harley D., ed. Five Years that Shook the World: Gorbachev’s Unfinished Revolution. Boulder, Colo., 1991.
Barbour, Walworth. “The Concept of Self-Determination in American Thought.” Department of State Bulletin 31 (1954). Presents an official view.
Barker, Sir Ernest. National Character and the Factors in Its Formation. London, 1948. A classic work originally published in 1927.
Birdsall, Paul. Versailles Twenty Years After. New York, 1941. Presents a “realistic” view of Wilson’s efforts to implement the concept of self-determination at the Paris Peace Conference.
Carley, Patricia. U.S. Responses to Self-Determination Movements. Washington, D.C., 1997. A report of a roundtable by the United States Institute of Peace and the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State on strategies for nonviolent outcomes and alternatives to secession.
Cassese, Antonio. Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal. Cambridge and New York, 1995. A comprehensive legal account of the concept of self-determination.
Cobban, Alfred. The Nation State and National Self-Determination. New York, 1969. Presents the most nearly definitive history and political analysis of the general concept of national self-determination by means of a pragmatic approach.
Diesing, Paul. “National Self-Determination and U.S. Foreign Policy.” Ethics 77 (1967). A provocative ethical analysis.
Further Reading (Books 2)
Eagleton, Clyde. “The Excesses of Self-Determination.” Foreign Affairs 31 (1953). An excellent analysis of problems presented by the attempt to apply the concept of self-determination in the post_World War II period.
Emerson, Rupert. Self-Determination Revisited in the Era of Decolonization. Cambridge, Mass., 1964. A good synthesis, containing a fresh examination in a new nation-forming setting.
Gerson, Louis L. The Hyphenate in Recent American Politics and Diplomacy. Lawrence, Kans., 1964. Especially helpful on the role of East European hyphenates in promoting self-determination during the Wilson and Roosevelt administrations.
Halperin, Morton H., and David J. Scheffer. Self-Determination in the New World Order. Washington, D.C., 1992. Reviews U.S. and international claims during and after the Cold War.
Jessup, Philip C. “Self-Determination Today in Principle and in Practice.” Virginia Quarterly Review 33 (1957). An evaluation by a first-rate scholar of international law.
Johnson, Harold S. Self-Determination within the Community of Nations. Leiden, Netherlands, 1967. Presents a careful analysis of conflicting interpretations of the great powers.
Lansing, Robert. The Peace Negotiations: A Personal Narrative. Boston and New York, 1921. Important for an understanding of Lansing’s criticisms of national self-determination.
Link, Arthur S. Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War, and Peace. Arlington Heights, Ill., 1979. Necessary for an appreciation of how Wilson’s principles influenced his foreign policy.
May, Arthur James. Contemporary American Opinion of the Mid-Century Revolutions in Central Europe. Philadelphia, 1927. Essential for the mid-nineteenth-century outlook.
Mayer, Arno J. Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking: Containment and Counterrevolution at Versailles, 1918_1919. New York, 1967. Provides vital background for the Wilsonian position.
Musgrave, Thomas D. Self Determination and National Minorities. New York, 1997. Examines the historic and current status of self-determination in international law.
Further Reading (Articles)
Sherwood, Robert E. Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History. Rev. ed. New York, 1950. Presents a glimpse of Roosevelt’s efforts to secure support for self-determination from both Churchill and Stalin.
Shukri, Muhammad Aziz. The Concept of Self-Determination in the United Nations. Damascus, Syria, 1965. A scholarly study analyzing the attitudes of major powers.
Smith, Tony. America’s Mission: The United States and the World Wide Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century. Princeton, N.J., 1994. Emphasizes the role of the Wilsonian concept of self-determination in the twentieth century.
Unterberger, Betty Miller. “The United States and National Self-Determination: A Wilsonian Perspective.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 26 (fall 1996): 926_942.
The United States, Revolutionary Russia, and the Rise of Czechoslovakia. College Station, Tex., 2000. Traces President Wilson’s efforts to implement his concept of self-determination toward Austria-Hungary and Russia.
Wambaugh, Sarah. A Monograph on Plebiscites, with a Collection of Official Documents. New York, 1920. A classic work with an excellent introductory chapter on self-determination.
Plebiscites Since the World War, with a Collection of Official Documents. Washington, D.C., 1933. Presents a historical summary on matters of self-determination covering the years from 1914 to 1933.
More Related Articles
Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London and New York: Verso.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. 1992. Nations and Nationalism since 1780. 2nd ed. Cambridge, U.K. and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lenin, V. I. [1914] 1977. The Right of Nations to Self-Determination: Selected Writings. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
L_wy, Michael. 1998. Fatherland or Mother Earth? : Essays on the National Question. London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press.
Moynihan, D. P. 1994. Pandaemonium: Ethnicity in International Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Murray Smith
Self-determination: what do special educators know and where do they learn it?, Remedial and Special Education; July 1, 2002; Thoma, Colleen A. Nathanson, Rebecca Baker, Steven R. Tamura, Ronald
Self-determination in action in the classroom., Remedial and Special Education; March 1, 2002; Price, Lynda A. Wolensky, Debbie Mulligan, Robert
Self-determination: a life-span perspective.(Report), Focus on Exceptional Children; February 1, 2010; Palmer, Susan B.
Self-determination perceptions and behaviors of diverse students with LD during the transition planning process., Journal of Learning Disabilities; May 1, 2005; Trainor, Audrey A.
Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities: Views of Parents and Teachers, Exceptional Children; September 22, 2003; Grigal, Meg Neubert, Debra A. Moon, M. Sherril Graham, Steve
Self-Determination and Student Involvement in Standards-Based Reform, Exceptional Children; June 22, 2004; Wehmeyer, Michael L. Field, Sharon Doren, Bonnie Jones, Bonnie Mason, Christine
Self-Determination for Students with Intellectual Disabilities and Why I Want Educators to Know What It Means: Contrary to What Many People Assume, Students with Intellectual Disabilities Are Capable of Directing Some Aspects of Their Own Lives. If We Are to Create Democratic Classrooms, Ms. Marks Argues, We Must Promote Self-Determination for All Students, Phi Delta Kappan; September 1, 2008; Marks, Susan Unok
Self-determination: a key to success in postsecondary education for students with learning disabilities., Remedial and Special Education; November 1, 2003; Field, Sharon Sarver, Mary D. Shaw, Stan F.
Promoting Student Self-Determination Skills in IEP Planning, Teaching Exceptional Children; January 1, 2004; Wood, Wendy M. Karvonen, Meagan Test, David W. Browder, Diane Algozzine, Bob
Self-Determination Skills and Opportunities of Transition-Age Youth with Emotional Disturbance and Learning Diabilities, Exceptional Children; March 22, 2006; Carter, Erik W. Lane, Kathleen L. Pierson, Melinda R. Glaeser, Barbara
Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act Introduced in Senate by Sen. Burr, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; February 27, 2006
Taking Self-Determination Seriously: When Can Cultural and Political Minorities Control Their Own Fate?, Chicago Journal of International Law; January 1, 2005; Clark, Paul A.
Choosing a Self-Determination Curriculum, Teaching Exceptional Children; November 1, 2000; Test, David W. Karvonen, Meagan Wood, Wendy M. Browder, Diane Algozzine, Bob
Living with self-determination, The Kathmandu Post; December 17, 2011
Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act Introduced in House by Rep. Velázquez, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; March 3, 2007
Researchers: Promoting Self-Determination Increases Opportunities for Students with Disabilities, States News Service; November 5, 2013
Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act Introduced by Rep. Duncan, US Fed News Service, Including US State News; March 22, 2006
One man’s self-determination is another’s treason, Chicago Sun-Times; January 15, 1990; Charles Osgood
The Politics of Inclusion: The Right of Self-Determination, Statutory Bills of Rights and Indigenous Peoples, Melbourne University Law Review; December 1, 2010; Lino, Dylan
What Happened to Self-Determination?, Social Work; October 1, 2011; Murdach, Allison D.
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