McWhinney, Edward Keywords: Right of self-determination | Secession | State succession | Mots clefs: Droit de libre disposition | Secession | Succession | ABSTRACT Edward McWhinney, Professor emeritus of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, retraces the historical origins of peoples' self-determination by taking as its starting point the national self-determination that can be traced back to the French revolution. The question of the self-determination of peoples is often resolved within the framework of the nation-st…