Withdrawal of International Organizations: Legal Theory and Practice

Details

Supervisors

Dopagne, Frédéric

Faculty

Faculté de droit et de criminologie

Degree label

Master [120] en droit, à finalité spécialisée: Droit public

Abstract

enMembership is a fundamental constitutional question for any international organization and its members. Joining an organization can raise some issues, just as leaving can. This is illustrated by many instances of states announcing their exit of international organizations in the recent years. The most widely publicized in Occident were obviously the multiple withdrawals of USA under both Trump administrations. However, many other states, from all around the world also decided to exit several different organizations over the past twenty-five years. The practice, although considered very rare by some , is in fact relatively recurrent in our international legal order. The issue analyzed in this thesis is therefore seeks to answer to the following question: does a right have the right to withdraw from an international organization, under which conditions and with what effects, and is this right subjected to control? This study does not purport to bring a brand-new insight on the issue of withdrawal in general, the topic having been examined by legal scholars over the past decades. At most, it has the modest purpose of drawing a summary of the existing practice, and, when necessary, address gaps in legal doctrine regarding some aspects that remain underexplored.