By all accounts, Western Sahara should be a fully independent state and a member of the United Nations. Instead, it finds itself divided and occupied, its independence recognised by a fifth of the international community. In this video, I explain how Western Sahara was denied the right of self-determination and a chance for full sovereign statehood. Welcome to Independent Thinking. A channel dedicated to international relations, independence disputes, secession and the origins of countries. In early 1976, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), better known as Western Sahara, declared independence. However, it is a state that has never achieved full statehood. Although the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination had been explicitly recognised by the United Nations (UN), this was thwarted by Morocco and Mauritania in collusion with the departing colonial power, Spain - even thought their claim to the territory had been rejected by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In this video, I explore the background to the story. In doing so, I show how sometimes processes of decolonisation were used by countries to lay claim to territories that they historically regarded as their own. I hope you found this video useful. If you did, please do press the 'Like' button. And don't forget to subscribe and press the notification bell if you would like to be alerted to my future videos. Also, if you have any suggestions for topics that you would like to see me cover, please leave a comment below. Thank you. SHARE THIS VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7xRduwFNPg CHANNEL LINK null RELATED PLAYLISTS Current Issues and Disputes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOkZKiVUg10 Secession and Independence in Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf0aYCbCXtM International Relations, Independence and Secession https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkhWoFirV7A ======================================= FURTHER READING & USEFUL SOURCES ICJ Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/61 Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate? https://amzn.to/2Whi6lv Secession and State Creation: What Everyone Needs to Know https://amzn.to/2MPY3W2 [PRE-ORDER] Satow's Diplomatic Practice https://amzn.to/2sF1Kak Recognition in International Relations https://amzn.to/2SJJmaY ======================================= MY BOOKS Secession and State Creation: What Everyone Needs to Know https://amzn.to/2MPY3W2 [PRE-ORDER] The Cyprus Problem: What Everyone Needs to Know https://amzn.to/2FaaBU2 Kosovo: The Path to Contested Statehood in the Balkans https://amzn.to/35jiBN2 The Foreign Policy of Counter-Secession https://amzn.to/2Qinm5t My other books https://amzn.to/2MlP13u ======================================= MY PROFILES & SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS Twitter http://www.twitter.com/JamesKerLindsay LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-ker-lindsay-b31b9930/ Academia.edu https://lse.academia.edu/JamesKerLindsay Research Gate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Ker-Lindsay ======================================= EQUIPMENT& TOOL USED TO MAKE THIS VIDEO Camera: Canon M50 https://amzn.to/35Hqc9y Microphone: Boya BY-M1 https://amzn.to/2VNO7Q4 Key Light: StudioPRO 1050W Softbox https://amzn.to/2okZAKW Fill Light: Viltrox L116T https://amzn.to/2Mia86y Teleprompter: Parrot 2 https://amzn.to/2VLcRsm Tripod: Geekoto 79" Carbon Fibre https://amzn.to/2wWMNT1 Channel Analytics: TubeBuddy https://www.tubebuddy.com/JKL ======================================= KEYWORDS #WesternSahara #Morocco #SADR #InternationalPolitics #CurrentAffairs #InternationalRelations #Secession #Statehood #Independence #InternationalLaw #InternationalHistory #Polisario #Mauritania #UnitedNations DISCLAIMER: Some of the links above are affiliate links. These pay a small commission if you make a purchase. This helps to support the channel and will be at no additional cost to you.