Subject: H Social Sciences (General)
Year: 2026
Type: Article
Type: PeerReviewed
Title: FALSE CONSENT AND UNLAWFUL TITLE: ANNEXATION REFERENDA AND THE CONSTRAINTS OF TERRITORIAL TRANSFORMATION
Author: KAMBERI, Donika
Author: Mehmeti, Sami
Abstract: This article examines whether territorial change can acquire legal validity when it is produced through referenda held under the military occupation or coercive control of a foreign state. Focusing on Russia's claimed annexations of Ukrainian territory, the article tests the hypothesis that self-determination cannot generate lawful territorial title where the conditions of political choice are created by aggression, occupation, or external domination. The argument is grounded in the prohibition of the use of force, territorial integrity, the law of occupation, self-determination, and the duty of non-recognition. The article advances a doctrinal claim: annexation referenda under foreign military dominance are not merely procedurally defective; they are legally incapable of transferring title. Their invalidity arises from the structure of the situation itself, because consent cannot be produced by the power that controls the territory and benefits from the result. Domestic incorporation laws, recognition decrees, and referendum results cannot transform unlawful possession into sovereignty. The central finding is that international law prohibits both conquest by arms and conquest by legal form. In cases of coercive territorial transformation, legal title remains with the territorial state, while the occupying or annexing state acquires only unlawful control, international responsibility, and an obligation to withdraw.
Publisher: Faculty of Law, University of Tetova
Relation: https://eprints.unite.edu.mk/2354/
Identifier: oai:eprints.unite.edu.mk:2354
Identifier: https://eprints.unite.edu.mk/2354/1/Justicia%202026-180-188.pdfIdentifier: KAMBERI, Donika and Mehmeti, Sami (2026) FALSE CONSENT AND UNLAWFUL TITLE: ANNEXATION REFERENDA AND THE CONSTRAINTS OF TERRITORIAL TRANSFORMATION. nternational Journal of Legal Sciences, 14 (25-26). pp. 180-188. ISSN 2545-4927
